LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
PRINCETON, N. J.
Presented by
_. . . r1
BR 100 .M86 1917
Murray, David Ambrose, 1861-
The supernatural
Co p. I
The Supernatural
Or
Fellowship With God
By the Same Author
D. A. MURRAY, D. D.
Christian Faith and the New
Psychology
Evolution and Recent Science as Aids to Faith
8vot cloth, net $1.50
" Do evolution and modern psychology invalidate the
supernatural element in Christian Faith ? That is a ques-
tion that is giving many earnest minds much trouble these
days, and it is the question that Dr. Murray essays to
answer. His answer is, no ! On the contrary, he finds in
the evolutionary interpretation of nature what he holds to
be even firmer ground for belief in a personal Creator.
An admirable piece of Christian apologetics."— Lutheran
Observer.
" Dr. Murray may be classed among the mediators be-
tween modern thought and evangelical theology. Evolu-
tion and the New Psychology are to him not sources of
difficulty as a Christian thinker, but aids to faith. A most
original and stimulating book." — The Continent.
" An uncommonly strong book, full of meat and inspi-
ration. The author has a brain and a pen." — Zion's
Herald.
"The cardinal points of the Christian religion are here
treated from a purely scientific view-point. Not in recent
years have we read anything so clear, from a scientific
point of view, so satisfactory or so reassuring to Christian
faith as this volume." — The United Presbyterian.
« One of the most significant of the recent works in the
field of Christian apologetics. ... In no other work
have these ideas been brought together and elaborated
with the scientific accuracy as in this book. It should be
of great interest to the theologian, the scientific student
and the modern reader." — Chicago Evening Post.
Fleming H. Revell Company,
Publishers
The Supernatural
Or
Fellowship With God
By
A. MUI
DAVID A. MURRAY, D. D.
Author of" Christian Faith and the New Psychology" etc*
New York Chicago Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
London and Edinburgh
Copyright, 1917, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
To the memory of
My Wife's Father
Thomas Dove Foster
Who while conducting a large business on Christian
principles was also able, in public service, in
municipal reform, in Society, in the Church, and in
all his daily personal contact with men, to demon-
strate that a close walk of Fellowship with God is
the surest source of both Character and Social Service,
This book is affectionately inscribed
Preface
DIFFERENT ages have had different religious
problems. Once it was the question of Mono-
theism. In the early Christian centuries it
was the Person of Christ. At the Reformation it was
the immediate access of the soul to God. To-day the
great contest seems to be along the line of Naturalism.
Science in the past century and a half has made
enormous advances throughout the whole range of
secular knowledge. It has demanded universal do-
main. Religion has refused to be included on the same
plane as other knowledge, and science has retaliated by
either ignoring it or denying its validity. Especially
have its supernatural postulates been most confidently
challenged.
What will be the outcome? Can religion again
make good its ancient isolation in a world with which
science has nothing to do? Will science succeed in
annihilating belief in the supernatural, and be able with-
out it to build up in its own domain a satisfactory
religion drawn entirely from natural sources ?
Or will it be possible in some way to give religion,
just as it is, with all its supernatural features intact, a
recognized standing and established place in the world
of scientific thought? Can it be coordinated in its
7
8 PEEFACE
present form with all the rest of the discovered uni-
verse facts in one unified consistent system ?
It is confronting that situation that the following
studies have taken up this most difficult question of the
place of the supernatural in religion and in the universe
scheme.
D. A. M.
Tsuj Ise, Japan.
Contents
Part I
PROBLEMS
I. The Book 15
The Burden of the Supernatural.
II. Definition 21
Reconciling Theories.
Real Significance of the Supernatural in the
Bible.
III. The Point of View 35
Character and Service.
Embarrassing Results Arise.
Eliminating the Supernatural.
Legitimate Results of the Different View-Points.
Is This the True Meaning of Religion ?
Fellowship with God.
Historical Meaning of the Term.
The Meaning of the Bible Religion.
IV. Social Service 58
Fellowship a Higher Thing.
Fellowship Stimulates Service, and Yet That is
Not Its Main Purpose.
Social Service is Fellowship, and Yet Fellowship
Transcends It.
Fellowship Demands Service, But it is Service
for Fellowship's Sake.
Mistaken Conceptions of Fellowship.
V. Place of Religion in Evolution . . 68
God's Relation to This World.
What Was God's Purpose ?
Fellowship is the Highest Kind of Satisfaction.
Clear-Cut Concept of God.
9
CONTENTS
Purpose of the Whole Evolution Process.
The Evolution Process Foreshadows Fellowship
by Men with God.
Value of the Supernatural . . .83
Secondary Uses.
Primary Motive of the Supernatural.
Fellowship Must Consist of Just Such Acts.
It is Fellowship for Fellowship's Sake.
This Supernatural Regime the Basis of Religion.
Silent Fellowship.
Teaching Value of the Supernatural.
An Illustration.
Special Providence.
Not Under Law but Grace.
Prayer 105
Prayer Implies the Supernatural.
Answers to Prayer.
Intercessory Prayer.
Our Prayer Makes the Thing Possible for God.
Immutability of Natural Law.
Doing a Thing Asked for Becomes a Matter
of Fellowship.
Illustrations.
Laws of Prayer.
Punishment 129
Manufacture and Use.
Punishment All Belongs to Natural Law.
Punishment Only a By-Product in the Super-
natural.
Punishment by God.
Genesis of Christianity .... 142
Ethics, Theology and Religion.
Main Purpose of the Bible is Not to Reveal
Knowledge.
Genesis of Fellowship.
Evolution Specializes.
God a Typical Friend.
CONTENTS 11
Part II
THE OLD TESTAMENT
I. Purpose of the Bible . . . . .159
A Biography.
Nature of a Biography.
II. Israel . 164
Specialness a Necessity.
Friendship of God.
III. Abraham . 172
Beginning of the Era of Religion.
How Will Fellowship Begin ?
Tutelar Divinities.
Two Separate Relations.
Always as Friend, Not as Moral Ruler in the
Supernatural Acts.
Familiar Approachableness Rather Than Great-
ness.
IV. Moses 187
Reason for Miracles at This Time.
Beginning of the Movement.
Using Natural Law.
Personal Care.
At Mount Sinai.
Ruler or Friend ?
Other Incidents.
The Fundamental Question.
V. Elijah 209
All at Special Times.
The Great Crisis.
Restricted to a Special Group.
Later Instances.
VI. Prophecy 220
Inspiration.
The Supernatural Must be Evident in Order
to be Justifiable.
Didactic Writings.
Credibility of Prophecy.
Place in God's Plan.
12 CONTENTS
Conversation Begun at Sinai.
Continuous Order of Prophets.
Divine Revelation of Teaching.
Personal Atmosphere.
Severe Prophecies.
VII. National History 241
Bible Characters All Normal Men.
Lessons from God's Dealings with Nations.
Lessons from God's Dealings with Israel.
Peculiar Attitude Towards Idolatry.
Israel's Friend Rather Than the Moral Ruler
of the World.
VIII. God and Individuals . . . .255
Nature of the Supernatural Punishments.
Men of Low Social Level.
Harsh and Cruel Men.
God's Companionship with Good Men.
Attitude Towards Bad Men.
The Old Testament Gospel.
Part III
THE CHRIST
I. The Incarnation ..... 277
The Fact of the Incarnation.
Possibility of the Incarnation.
Purpose of the Incarnation.
Its Place in the Evolution Scheme.
Fellowship Always Specific and Limited.
The Personality of Jesus.
The Model Friend.
Dislike for Publicity.
Jesus' Miracles.
The Miracles Proof of Jesus' Humanity.
II. Atonement 302
Love His Supreme Motive.
Love Begets Suffering.
Atonement.
Love Produced His Death.
PART I
Problems
THE BOOK
CHRISTIANITY has sometimes been called The
Religion of a Book. While it is more than
that, the designation is not entirely inappro-
priate. A book, the Bible, has always had a supreme
place in the Christian system and been considered the
authoritative source of its teaching. The expression
"To believe the Bible" has often, not inaptly, been
used as the equivalent of being a Christian.
The Bible is still the most widely read book of all
literature, and recent years have seen a distinct revival
in its study and esteem. Yet we cannot fail to notice
a decided change in the nature of that esteem, and in
the place it holds in men's hearts.
A generation ago our fathers studied the book with
reverence as "The Word of God," the food of the
soul, "The only infallible rule of faith and practice."
To-day, with all our reviving appreciation, we approach
the Book with a critical reserve. It is to us a book of
great value and absorbing interest. It has a most
honoured place on the shelf of great ethical and literary
classics. But all questions as to its authority or divinity
we rather prefer not to have raised.
Several causes have contributed to remove the old
halo from the Book. The scientific spirit of the age,
15
16 THE SUPERNATURAL
the work of the Higher Criticism, the study of Com-
parative Religion, together with a natural reaction from
a too mystical, if not mechanical, conception of its
origin, have all had their influence.
Another thing that has contributed much to this
result is the fact that the attention of the Christian
men of this generation is being so centered on Social
Service that we do not feel nearly as much concern as
our fathers did about distinctly divine things.
Unquestionably this call of Social Service marks the
highest level of ethical purpose the Church has yet
attained. And yet life is so large, and its many parts
so interdependent, that it is never safe to enshrine any
one particular part as the whole and ignore all others.
It might always be possible that there was a something
else which was as necessary to this social activity as the
root is to the flower, — something from which it draws
its origin and without which it could not permanently
exist.
Still we cannot lightly regard any spontaneous and
universal tendency. The survival of the fittest is the
wise law of nature. If the Bible really is not entitled
to the old place of supreme religious guide, if it has not
the qualifications to satisfy the religious needs of men,
and if it cannot prove its claim to divine authority,
we will have to acquiesce and see it dethroned and
superseded, no matter how painful it may be to tear up
the roots of old affections and associations.
But so much is at stake that before we finally rest in
such a drastic change it will not be unreasonable to
permit still another sympathetic examination, to see if
THE BOOK 17
possibly the fault may not lie, after all, in our misinter-
pretations and misunderstandings, and if the old Book
which has brought comfort and spiritual strength to so
many generations of our fathers may not still, when
rightly understood, continue to come to us as the voice
of God pointing the way of Eternal Life.
The Burden of the Supernatural
When we take up the Bible for study we are im-
mediately met by the great question of the Supernatural.
The whole message of the Bible, as it has come to us
and as it has had such influence in the world, is a
distinct assertion of the Supernatural.
It is not merely that we find accounts of miracles in
the Bible history. That is not an unusual feature in
very old records. And it is not only that these miracles
are so numerous and such a fundamental feature of the
narratives that it has been found impossible to success,
fully remove them without destroying all the meaning
and value of the narratives themselves. It is more than
that. The very essence of our religion is a relation to
the unseen God which is distinctly supernatural. The
central object of our religious trust is the Jesus Christ
which the Book portrays, and that Christ, though
there have been technical discussions as to His actual
deity, has in the past always been considered by all
Christians to be a supernatural person. And, more
fundamental still, the very fact of any real revelation
being made by God at all in any form or by any means
is a distinctly supernatural matter, and so indeed is any
real communication with Him in prayer or worship.
18 THE SUPERNATURAL
The whole trend of thought to-day, however, seems
to be distinctly unfriendly to any suggestion of the
supernatural. The scientific spirit of the times makes
a peremptory challenge of everything that has any
element of the supernatural in it. Such an exceedingly
wide range of facts has been brought under the domain
of explainable cause and effect that men are disposed to
consider the thesis proved that everything belongs in
that domain, and nothing is to be received as fact that
cannot be so classified.
Whatever our own belief or wish in the matter, we
have to recognize that the popular feeling is strongly
against the supernatural. Such an account is now no
longer received on the same testimony that would sub-
stantiate any ordinary event. It is even claimed by
some that the one fact of an alleged event being super-
natural is sufficient to invalidate any possible amount
of testimony that could be brought to prove its occur-
rence.
But the Bible, as a historical phenomenon to be
studied, is a book of the supernatural. The Bible
which has had such a hold on men's minds, and which
has had such enormous influence to lift up the world
and make men and society better, has been the Bible
accepted in the form we have it now, with its super-
natural incidents and with the traditional estimate of
its supernatural character. It is as a supernatural
Bible, recording supernatural events, that it has had
this power, and it is precisely the belief of its super-
naturalness which has been the main thing that has
given it this power and influence.
THE BOOK 19
Historically it has not been appreciation of the in-
trinsic value of the teaching and of the high excellence
of the ethical standards, which has given the Book its
great power, so much as rather the firm belief that it
is from God and that it gives us an immediate touch
with God. It would be, to say the least, very disquiet-
ing to our moral instincts to be compelled to believe that
a falsehood and delusion had been the cause of such
preeminent moral benefit and uplift in the world.
As we examine the path of progress in the past we
find that it has been by evolution rather than by revo-
lution. We are prepared to expect evolution, expansion
and clarification in our views as to God's personal rela-
tions and communications to men, but it would be
drastic revolution to have to believe that no revelations
of any kind have ever occurred at all.
Certainly, then, this question of the supernatural is a
most pressing question and one that is vital in our whole
religious situation. It is a question that will confront
us all through our study of the Bible. For the super-
natural is not merely an incident in the Bible and Chris-
tian system. It is not merely a tint or auxiliary figure
in the picture but it is the main subject of the picture
itself. It is not something that can be easily expunged
or explained away, for it is the distinctive texture of the
Book and the fundamental basis of the whole system.
Before making any direct study of the Bible text,
then, it will be necessary to make a somewhat thorough
inquiry into this whole question of the supernatural,
both as to its place in religion and as to its possible re-
lation to science and the whole world of evolution.
20 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
If we find that it is positively declared impossible by
science, and especially if we find that it is not only un-
necessary but incompatible with the interests of relig-
ion, that must end the inquiry for us.
But if we find, on the other hand, that science has
really nothing positive to say against it, and that it is
not only compatible with the highest interpretation of
religion, but is a fundamental and indispensable postu-
late of all religion, then that will not only open the
way for a detailed study of the supernatural in the
Bible, but will make that investigation and study a
matter of absorbing interest and importance.
The first matter, then, for us to consider is this prob-
lem of the validity of the supernatural. Must every-
thing supernatural in our religion and in the Bible be
necessarily rejected as impossible of belief, and must
our whole attitude and estimate be recast to fit that
view, even though, — as inevitably it must, — it should
reduce the Book to a rather questionable fiction and
require an entire reconstruction of the grounds, and
even the substance, of our religious belief ?
Or, on the other hand, is it still reasonable to con-
sider some or all of the supernatural in the Book as
true? Can we reasonably receive the Book and the
religion it teaches as containing in a literal and real
sense a revelation of God ? May our Christian relig-
ion, with its supernatural Book, its supernatural Christ
and its supernatural salvation still be believed, and still
continue to bring to us the same peace, strength and
heart comfort as it has to our fathers for so many
generations ?
n
DEFINITION
WHAT do we mean by " The Supernatural " ?
While the term is one in very familiar use
there is more or less indefiniteiiess as to its
precise meaning. It will be important to have a precise
definition if we are to discuss the supernatural in the
Bible.
There are various definitions that merely look at the
strangeness of the events alleged, or that treat them as
though they were to be considered as events occurring
without any adequate cause. We may pass all such
definitions by as not pertinent to our inquiry.
The most obvious definition is that which grows out
of the etymology of the word. There is a range of
events that are usually called natural events. Any-
thing different from or outside of that range of events
would be called " Supernatural." One objection to this
is that it is a negative definition. A definition should
be positive, describing a thing by what it is rather than
by what it is not.
Yery often the term is used to denote that an event
was directly caused by God, in distinction from ordi-
nary events that are caused by natural law. But, as
Christians, we believe that all natural events are en-
tirely the work of God just as truly as the supernatural.
If however we recognize this and say that God provided
21
22 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
for one great system of cause and effect which we call
Natural Law, and any things that He does which are
not included in that would be called Supernatural, it
would be more nearly an adequate definition, but yet
this too would be unsatisfactory in several respects.
It is not easy or possible often to decide positively
whether a given occurrence would come inside or out-
side the working of natural law. Many things reported
in the Bible that once would have been considered out-
side of the province of natural law are now known to be
easily producible entirely within the working of natural
agencies. At one time all visions were considered to be
certainly of that character. We now know that such
phenomena can be produced altogether subjectively
and by purely natural causes.
All the wonderful events narrated as occurring in con-
nection with the migration of the Israelites from Egypt
to Canaan were once looked upon as the very types of
the supernatural. We now consider that the crossing
of the Ked Sea (Ex. 14 : 21 ff.) and of the Jordan (Josh.
3 : 14-17), the fall of the walls of Jericho (Josh. 6 : 20),
many of the plagues in Egypt (Ex. 7-10) and various
other things, might possibly all have been produced by
the normal working of natural agencies. And yet
there are imperative reasons for putting these events
into the same classification as all the other events to
which the name Supernatural is applied. They are
preeminently referred to in the after record as examples
of God's special interposition and favour, and they
could have no legitimate religious value or significance
otherwise.
DEFINITION 23
Our definition of natural law is a very unstable and
unsatisfactory one. Yery commonly it depends chiefly
upon frequency and regularity of occurrence. Espe-
cially is that true with those that hold that the effi-
ciency behind all causation comes ultimately from God.
For instance, we would say that it was a recognized
part of natural law that Life can beget life. "We say
so because it is a familiar and frequent phenomenon.
But suppose that in all history there had only been one
single case where a parent had begotten offspring and
life had begotten life. Or suppose we were consider-
ing the very first of the long series of instances in
which this has taken place, for everything must have
a first instance. According to our assumed canons we
must unquestionably consider that sole, or that first,
instance an instance of the supernatural.
Suppose on the other hand after a while it should
come to be the regular and usual order of occurrence
that after a man died, and his body entirely dissolved
away, at the end of a short interval his soul should
somehow construct for itself a new body, and he would
go on living in the world again the same as before.
Such a state of affairs is at least conceivable, and it is
much more inherently probable even now than a few
billion years ago it was that such a phenomenon as life
should appear and one life be able to beget another.
But if that were a thing that was constantly happening
we would say just as unquestionably that Kesurrection
was an ordinary feature of natural law.
Now if all things act as they do because God has
constituted them to do so, we can form no certain
54 THE SUPERNATURAL
)rejudgment as to what order of things He may choose
-o make occur frequently in the future, and so, the first
ime any species of event occurs we have no way to
udge whether it must be called a natural or a super-
latural event. There is no intrinsic quality by which
me event must be classified as natural and another as
iupernatural. Any division we make must be entirely
iependent upon the lottery of our conjecture as to what
jrod intends to do in the future.
Reconciling Theories
With this in mind it might not unreasonably be
claimed that all things that occur, whether in con-
inuous series or singly and unique, might be plausibly
jailed Natural just because they are parts of the one
^rearranged plan and purpose of God. If any miracle
lid really occur at any time it therein became and was
)roved to be a part of natural law just as much as
inything else is. God's purpose must be consistent,
inified and perfectly articulated, whether we see it or
lot, and so one thing just as legitimate and necessary
i part of it as any other, — the water changed to wine
>r five loaves multiplied by the word of Jesus just as
nuch as the similar change consummated in the branches
)f the vine or stalks of wheat in the field, provided
-hese things actually occurred. And so with a legiti-
nate use of the word " Natural " we might classify
everything of any kind that actually occurs as natural
ust because it does occur and is thereby shown to be a
lecessary part of the one universal prearranged plan.
There is some disposition among a certain group of
DEFINITION 25
apologists to resolve all the miracles in the Bible along
some such line as that and thus get rid of the burden
of the supernatural entirely. In one sense this is quite
plausible. It is quite possible to subsume all things
that actually occur, even the most unusual, under the
same category and demand that it be called natural
law. For every kind of event there must have once
been a first time that it occurred, when it too would
have been unique and unusual. What better con-
ception of Natural than to classify as such all that is
contained in the one grand, consistent plan of God,
whether the event in question occurs only once or
occurs many millions of times ? In this way it would
be possible to claim that the Bible miracles are not
supernatural or interruptions of natural law at all.
But this does not, unfortunately, remove any of the
real difficulty after all. We have indeed gotten rid of
the word " Supernatural " and are relieved of the stigma
of an unwelcome term, but that is all, and the fact of
specialness is there just as much as before. These so-
called miracles must certainly have been produced by
a different order of agencies or in a different way from
that in which all ordinary events are produced. The
use or non use of a word makes no difference. It is
just as embarrassing to try to explain why God de-
parted from the order of agencies which He had found
suitable and sufficient in all the rest of the upward
process and brought in special acts or special agencies, no
matter whether we call all natural or whether we call
one order of agencies natural and the other supernatural.
It does not comport with our idea of God's calm,
26 THE SUPERNATURAL
competent consistency to suppose that He would work
in that way. It is not the question whether God was
concerned in one kind of agencies more than in the
other, nor the question whether He could not if He
chose change and use new agencies instead of the old
agencies He had used to produce all other events. The
question is, Would He do so ? What would be gained
by this inconsistency and extra trouble ? Whatever
difficulty there is it is just as great whether we call all
natural or whether we call part natural and the rest
supernatural. It is merely a change of name and no
change in the fact of specialness.
There is another way that some seek to escape the
charge of supernaturalness. We know that many dis-
eases can be healed by what is called mental healing,
hypnotism and other similar ways. Science can now
do easily many things that two thousand years ago
would have been counted superlatively miraculous. It
is a fair, logical extension to suppose that many things
that we now would consider impossible or miraculous,
science will be able to do as easily at some future
time.
If our science were only perfect every one of these
wonderful events recorded in the Bible would be as
easy to produce by any of us as it is now to produce
hypnotic phenomena or send wireless telegrams. There
was no interruption of natural law and no new agency
used in those events, but merely through our ignorance
we have not yet become familiar with and able to use
the natural agencies, always in existence, which are
adapted to produce those effects.
DEFINITION 27
While there is a certain measure of plausibility about
this theory, and while it does not rid of the supernat-
ural entirely, yet on the other hand it would really
destroy the value of the Book and the incidents en-
tirely, and be fatal to the whole cause. To say that
the miracles of Christ and the apostles were of that
character would be to say that they were merely works
of magic. That is precisely what all magic is. In the
occult, miraculous sense in which the term is commonly
conceived, of course there is no such thing as magic.
All real events that have been believed and classed as
magic have been merely events produced in ways and
by means that the spectators did not understand.
In the early centuries there were quite a number of
men, of whom Simon Magus is an example (Acts
8 : 9-24), who did these magical acts, or acts which the
spectators could not understand, and who made use of
them to accredit some , religious system which they
taught. On this theory Christ and His apostles were
on precisely the same level with these men, and not
different from them in any respect. In both cases
equally they used a system of deception to accredit a
religious system.
For it cannot be denied that it would have been de-
ception. Down to the present day the whole Church
has given decisive value to these alleged supernatural
phenomena as proof that the Christian religion is of
God. Moreover Christ Himself distinctly appealed to
them as proof of that claim (Luke 7 : 20-23 ; John
5 : 36 ; 10 : 25, etc.). This then would have been a case
of the most serious kind of deception, and Christ the
28 THE SUPERNATURAL
most serious kind of a deceiver if, after all, His works
were merely works of magic and not special divine acts.
Keal Significance of the Supernatural in
the Bible
We shall not here attempt to make use of any of
these short cuts to a solution of the difficulty. We
shall fully assume that there are recorded in the Bible
events that are special, and that are fundamentally dif-
ferent from the ordinary events which we call Nature,
— events that could not be produced by any causes now
available to men or spontaneously in operation now.
We shall, however, prefer not to define them by saying
that they are not natural, or telling what they are not,
but will try to find some positive characteristics by
which we can define them.
One thing, however, it will be very important to bear
in mind, namely, that we are not here proposing to
consider theoretically the whole abstract question of
the supernatural in general, but are seeking to examine
a very concrete, limited group of incidents recorded in
one definite book, the Bible. It is only of that group
of incidents that we are seeking to make a definition.
If we examine the supernatural events recorded in
the Bible we shall find that they are all events or acts
produced by God personally for the specific benefit of
some person or restricted group. A distinctive feature
of all of them is their personal nature and restricted
application.
In the domain of nature God does acts, — or, what is
the same thing, establishes laws and forces, — that are
DEFINITION 29
universal in their application. They affect everything
everywhere that is suited to be affected by them.
These acts are not so, but are done specifically to some
one person or group alone. They all have that peculiar
quality which in our relations with one another we call
Personal, that is they appeal to the consciousness of the
individual as acts intentionally designed for him spe-
cifically. Of course the works of nature do not do so.
All the other operations and agencies that God has
instigated are continuous and permanent, operating in-
variably whenever the given conditions are present.
These acts do not have such universal automatic repe-
tition, but are narrowed down and intentionally re-
stricted to one specific case, and only at the one given
time. They are no more truly acts of God than nat-
ural acts are, but they are singular, personal and indi-
vidual. That is their distinctive feature.
To illustrate : — we say that it is the nature of fire to
burn. If God made all materials, energies and laws,
ordinary burning of fire is God acting. It always and
invariably burns when the suitable material is in con-
tact with it. That is nature. Now we could conceiv-
ably imagine Go$. some time so altering things by a
special act that fire would no longer burn, or would not
burn during a given period, and that could be called a
supernatural act, perhaps, though there are no acts at
all of that character or that class in this group of Bible
incidents which we are examining. But again on the
other hand we could conceive that some time when
certain persons to whom God wished to show a per-
sonal favour were thrown into the fire, God, in order
30 THE SUPEENATUEAL
to save them from being burned, so restrained the
forces which usually operated that they were not
burned. That would be more nearly a type of the
miracles of the Bible.
In one sense this latter would merely be a supernat-
ural act like the previous one. But yet there is a pe-
culiar personal quality about it which really makes it
quite a different sort of thing, and warrants us in con-
sidering all such cases in a class by themselves. As far
as the mere matter of power is concerned, both cases
equally imply the power of the Creator, — of the one
who at first established nature. And both alike are
interruptions of the invariable working of that first es-
tablished nature. But when we come to consider the
reasonableness of such acts, they are entirely different.
Their meaning would be different, and the purposes for
which they could conceivably be performed would be
quite different.
It is of this class of acts entirely that all the super-
natural acts recorded in the Bible consist, — acts done
personally for the sake of specific individuals. We
may doubt whether there have ever been any of any
other kind. But whether there have or not, this is the
only kind that is recorded in this group that we are
discussing, and so all our discussion of them may pro-
ceed on that basis. "We need only consider them as
personal, restricted acts of God, in distinction from His
universal and continuous acts which constitute nature.
We might take for an instance the account of God
carrying Elijah up by a chariot of fire to heaven
(2 Kings 2: 11). God constituted the law of gravita-
DEFINITION 31
tion in the beginning by which everything tends to
fall downward towards the earth. Here we see the
body of Elijah going upward instead of downward,
contrary to that law. But that is not what the real
meaning and value of the incident is.
The real meaning is that God wished to personally
perform an act of favour to the specific man Elijah,
and did so irrespective of the fact that the process by
which it was done held in abeyance or reversed the
usual law of gravitation. It is the personal act of God
to the specific individual which is the whole significance
of the occurrence. The fact of its interfering or not
interfering with a previous law of nature is entirely an
incidental feature.
Or, again, suppose that God had at some time spoken
with an audible voice that somehow could be heard by
all intelligent beings, outlining some very important
new ethical rules, in order to improve the moral char-
acter of the world. We certainly would call that a
miracle, — a supernatural act in the usual definition of
the term, and a very decided interposition into the
course of nature. But it would not come within the
class of occurrences that we have chosen to include in
our definition, and of which we have said that all the
supernatural in the Bible consists. We may express a
decided doubt if there have ever been any supernatural
acts of that character occurring anywhere, and if there
have it certainly would be hard to reconcile them with
the reasonable nature of all God's working.
But it is a fact of an entirely different nature if we
suppose God has a special interest in a certain group of
32 THE SUPEENATUEAL
individuals, and in order to make them feel His near-
ness and interest in them personally, He speaks with
an audible voice to them alone, words which they hear
and recognize as coming from Him (Ex. 20 : 1-19 ;
Deut. 5 : 4, 22). The fact is then of an entirely differ-
ent nature and value, even though, as before, these
words spoken consist of important moral rules.
We are told that in our blood there are multitudes
of little white cells that act almost like soldier guards,
attacking and destroying harmful microbes and other
injurious matter, and in this way they bring about re-
covery from disease. Because this apparatus has all
been produced naturally in the course of evolution we
may call it God's plan for curing disease by natural
law. Suppose, however, it had never been so produced
naturally, but God had some time suddenly introduced
all this apparatus by some kind of a special interposi-
tion. Or suppose He should thus introduce some other
universally operating apparatus to cure disease. We
would properly call that a supernatural act in the com-
mon definition, and moreover it would be an act that
it would be most difficult to reconcile with the char-
acter of a reasonable creator.
But it is an entirely different kind of a matter if we
suppose a divine man finds a sick mother in the home
of His friend Peter, and as a personal act of friendship
expels the disease from her system because she is His
friend and He sympathizes with her (Mark 1 : 30).
It is of this latter class of the supernatural that we
will find ail the supernatural events in the Bible to be
composed, and it is this class to which we shall confine
DEFINITION 33
our definition, and concerning which we shall make our
inquiry and discussion.
We may define the supernatural we find in the Bible
then as follows : — The supernatural of the Bible consists
of acts of God which were done to single individuals or
groups, which were restricted to them and to the spe-
cific occasion, and which were intended to impress them
as personal acts of God definitely directed to them per-
sonally. This is in contrast with God's impersonal,
continuous, universal activities, which we call Nature.
This definition will take in a few acts, like the
plagues in Egypt and the crossing of the Eed Sea,
which were produced by purely natural means, and yet
ought properly to be included in the same class with
all the rest of the special or supernatural events. But
on the other hand there is no supernatural event re-
corded in the Bible that would not be covered by that
definition.
Perhaps it would have been better if we had found
some other term to use as a designation for these inci-
dents in the Bible which we are considering, and left
the word " Supernatural " to its etymological meaning.
But that word is now in universal use as the designa-
tion of these incidents, and no other good word seems
to suggest itself for the purpose. Moreover we are dis-
posed to assert on philosophical grounds, as we shall
see later, that there are not, and cannot be, among
God's activities in this world, any other supernatural
acts aside from acts of this character, namely, personal
acts, done with a personal motive to specific individuals
or groups. That is the only kind of supernatural acts
34 THE SUPERNATURAL
it seems logical to suppose that God ever would do or
has done.
Keally then, in all these Bible incidents it is the re-
striction of the act of God to the specific individual
that is the chief feature that we shall find significant,
or need consider. The fact that the act itself is inside
or outside of the usual workings of nature is a detail
that is comparatively incidental and unessential as far
as its value in the Bible motive is concerned. Aside
from the fact that it is calculated to impress on our
feelings that the act is really an intentional act of God
we may comparatively disregard that feature of special-
ness or interruption of nature, provided only that we
can find plausible justification for such acts occurring
in a universe ruled by a perfect God.
Ill
THE POINT OF VIEW
THE point of view is very important. Any one
who has tried to use a kodak has had this im-
pressed upon him. The houses, trees and
other objects in the picture may be practically the
same, but by moving his camera to a new location to
bring another part of the landscape into the foreground
and make another center to his picture, the effect pro-
duced is entirely that of another scene.
It is very important that we decide what the central
purpose of our religion shall be considered to be. Es-
pecially when we are considering whether the super-
natural may properly have a place in our religion it is
very necessary that we first accurately determine just
what the fundamental essence and purpose of our re-
ligion is.
Up until a few generations ago there was no doubt in
men's minds on that point. Eeligion was the means of
Salvation. That was its central purpose. All men
were doomed to eternal punishment on account of their
sins, but by means of the offices of religion they could
escape that punishment and have an eternal life of
happiness in heaven. That was the purpose for which
Christianity was established, and the great message
which it brought to men. Jesus Christ came from
heaven to earth expressly to die for us, that we might
35
36 THE SUPERNATURAL
be saved from death and have our sins forgiven. Of
course there were many other things in the system, —
privileges, duties, teaching and worship, — but the one
central thing and the essential purpose was Salvation, —
forgiveness of sins and the right to enter heaven.
Character and Service
Within the past few generations there has come to
be a gradual change in the view-point. The old center
has been shifted somewhat into the background, and a
new center found about which popular theological
thought is coming to arrange itself. The reality of
blessedness and of punishments in the future life is
still affirmed but it is made comparatively a secondary
consideration. The real center which determines all
the system is Character and Service. The object of
religion is to build and purify character and to make
men a more potent force in the uplifting of society.
In this new view the old elements are still retained.
There is a future life of happiness or of misery before
men according as they have or have not accepted
Christ. Christ came to enable men to enter a future
life of happiness in " His Father's House." But that
happiness of the future life will be the result of char-
acter,— will consist of the purified and ennobled nature
they have attained in this life by the help of Christ and
His teaching and His Church. The real center of all
the endeavour is made to be character, its great object
the improvement and uplifting of both society and the
individual. Knowledge of God, of course, has an im-
portant place in this scheme of religion, for His will is
THE POINT OF VIEW 37
to be the law of our lives, as His character is to be their
standard.
In many respects this new view is felt to be a vast
improvement over the old conception. It removes re-
ligion entirely from the charge of sordid selfishness.
It removes all appearance of arbitrariness and cruelty
from God's judgments and punishments. It makes the
whole matter seem much more reasonable and practical
in this practical, utilitarian age, and makes it all an ap-
propriate and integral part of the evolution scheme.
Embarrassing Eesults Arise
But a new difficulty has arisen in an unexpected
quarter. As the religious movement has come to seem
more and more practical and reasonable it has some way
come to seem less necessarily and distinctively divine.
To continue the figure ; — with the ethical motive brought
so prominently into the foreground the supernatural
has been crowded to the extreme background or blocked
out of the picture entirely.
In the first place, as the aim and meaning of religion
came to be conceived so reasonable and natural, the
scientific mind began to feel that perhaps religion
might not be an antagonistic thing apart, but might
after all be found to be a scientific fact, that might be
studied and demonstrated by the scientific method,
natural results traced to natural causes.
It was found to have roots in Psychology, Ethics
and Sociology, and to have developed in conformity
with the evolution laws. So much was accounted for
in that manner that it was assumed that in time it could
38 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
all be resolved into these purely natural elements, and
there was no need for any divine factors or supernatural
elements at all. In this way arose the comparative
study of religions, with its natural corollary that Christi-
anity, like all the other religions, was a natural product
and composed of purely natural elements.
In the second place, and more important, it was felt
that the presence of any supernatural element in relig-
ion was really a burden, as it was not only unnecessary
and uncalled for, but would be a reflection on the
competency of the evolution process.
This has been especially felt by those who hold the
evolution process to be simply the method of God's
working. Theistic evolution has so enormously raised
and expanded our idea of God that they find it difficult
to conceive of His doing certain classes of acts that
were formerly considered to be quite appropriate, and
among these they include all the supernatural in
religion.
The marvellous intricacy and competence of the evo-
lution process, interpreted as the work of God, has
impressed us with God's infinite reasonableness and
consistency, and made it impossible for us to believe
His doing anything that would imply vacillation or
incompetence. We cannot believe His doing anything
so imperfectly that it would need to be later supple-
mented to enable it to achieve fully its purpose. Nor
can we believe that after He had established one process
or one set of agencies quite competent to produce a
result He would afterwards contrive other agencies for
the express purpose of producing that same result, or of
THE POINT OF VIEW 39
producing it faster or better than the first process was
capable of doing.
We cannot conceive, for instance, of His instituting
a created system so imperfect that it required repeated
subsequent tinkering to make it attain the form that
He desired. We cannot conceive that He made ma-
chinery of progress so wonderful and perfect that it
produced a marvellous number and perfection of noble
results in myriad fields, but in order to produce some
certain few additional good results it required some
wheels or appliances not originally provided for to be
temporarily inserted.
This objection to the supernatural is not merely the
hacknied charge that a miracle is a violation of natural
law. It does not apply merely to the individual cases
of specific miracles. It reaches to the whole fact
of revelation itself, the whole idea of "Kevealed
Keligion," of God having in any way contributed
anything aside from what is furnished naturally by
natural law, to the religious and moral uplift of men.
God originated in one compactly concatenated system
a grand movement that has been able spontaneously,
within its own characteristic working, to bring about
myriad forms of progress and advancement in practi-
cally every direction. It has lifted and developed a
primordial germ of a single cell, through all the stages
up and up to the high level of man, and then endowed
that man with marvellous mental power and moral and
social impulses. But just one little stage from a lower
to a higher ethical level in man could not be brought
about spontaneously by forces within that system, and
40 THE SUPERS ATUEAL
so God had to specially and outside of the system pre-
pare and supply an appliance adapted to effect that
particular step of the progress, — by divine revelation
and supernatural interpositions.
There are many natural causes that are operating
to-day to improve men ethically and lead them to
better moral conduct. These causes have produced
many noble qualities and beneficent advances in
countries where no teaching of our revealed religion
has reached. But these already provided causes were
not producing the desired results fast enough or thor-
oughly enough and God had to specially prepare and
introduce other, not originally provided, appliances to
produce the results more rapidly and more thoroughly.
To say this would be to entirely belittle the ability of
the Creator and of His first great act of creation.
Again, for the same reason we cannot conceive that
God would give a special divine revelation of knowl-
edge merely because men needed that knowledge faster
than they were getting it, or needed higher teaching
than they were attaining to unaided. God has in His
first great creation system made so much knowledge
and such high grades of knowledge spontaneously
available to man, that it is inconceivable that He could
not and would not, if He had so desired, have made all
necessary or profitable knowledge sufficiently available
without the necessity for any after additions.
We cannot believe it possible, therefore, that God
should find it necessary to make any sort of special,
occasional interposition or revelation merely to supply
some help, teaching or moral uplift that became desir-
THE POINT OF VIEW 41
able but which men could not otherwise have attained.
If then in the Bible we find accounts of supernatural
facts occurring for that purpose, or if we are told that
the Bible is itself a supernatural revelation given for
that purpose, we find it at least a great strain on our
credulity to try to believe those facts or to accept the
Book on that basis, and our esteem for the Bible is
thereby seriously weakened.
Eliminating the Supernatural
And so the task has been resolutely undertaken of
eliminating the supernatural from the Bible. It was
not undertaken in a spirit of hostility to either Chris-
tianity or the Bible, but rather the reverse. It was
honestly felt that the supernatural elements were an
incumbrance, that they were a hindrance to the accept-
ance of Christianity by the modern mind, that the
scientific mind felt compelled to reject any system which
had in it so much of that which it considered illogical
and unbelievable, and so, in spite of its manifest supe-
riority and power in so many other respects, it was
rejecting the Christian religion on that account.
It was felt that if this objectionable feature could
ouly be eliminated, Christianity, with its enormous
power for good, would be more widely accepted by the
modern mind. If some theory of interpretation could
be devised for the Bible, to set aside all the super-
natural and miraculous features while retaining the
ethical teaching and inspiring power, the usefulness of
that great historic classic might be greatly prolonged.
Naturally the elimination of the supernatural must
42 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
involve a rejection of the Divinity of Christ. This
position has been consistently accepted by many.
With many others the heart if not the mind insisted
that the divinity of the Christ was too precious and too
fundamental to be given up without destroying the
whole system. And so they have made a brave at-
tempt to retain that divinity as a fact while rejecting
all the appropriate product of it both in the acts of
Christ and in the propagation of His religion.
But by the great body of Christians this attempt
has been felt to have been unsuccessful. The divine
eliminated from the character of Christ or from His
work and actions, would so mutilate the record as to
make it meaningless. Moreover the person and the
religion of Jesus have had too great influence in the
world to be accounted for by any naturalistic hypothesis
thus far devised. The New Testament, with all its
supernatural features, is too well authenticated by
abundant historical evidence to be successfully set aside
or reconstructed. The attitude of a large part, if not
the majority, of even critical thought at present is that
the New Testament, with all its difficulties and con-
tradiction of modern scientific tenets must still be ac-
cepted as a fairly accurate witness, and things did take
place, for the most part, substantially as it records them.
But with the Old Testament it is different. The
things it recounts lie largely outside the field of
accurate historical examination. Its religion and teach-
ing also are conceived to be superseded by the higher
teaching and religion of the New Testament (in
spite of Jesus' emphatic statement to the oontrary),
THE POINT OF VIEW 43
(Matt. 5 : 18). Here, thus, there seemed to be no
obstacle to yielding a full consent to the scientific
demands. Perhaps not consciously but none the less
really a large section of recent, popular religious
thought has settled down to the compromise of giving
up the Old Testament entirely as a book of religious
authority, and being content with a more or less fully
accredited New Testament. And even in that New
Testament, the supernatural features which were once
esteemed the things of chief importance are now felt
to be almost entirely without value if not indeed a
positive burden.
Such then is the situation to-day, and the cause that
has brought it about. Such is the question we are now
confronting. Are we willing to contentedly acquiesce
in this state as final, or do we still retain the hope that
it may be only a temporary wave, and the old faith
may again be found possible ? May we still hope that
something will yet be found that will justify the super-
natural, and the Bible be again restored to its old place,
our New Testament and divine Christ be again fear-
lessly believed without any apologies to scientific
thought, and our Old Testament too be found a rich
treasure of divine inspiration and life, — the whole Book
alike be considered worthy the old title of " A Eevela-
tion " and " The Word of God " ?
Legitimate Kesults of the Diffekent
View-Points
This process has all been perfectly logical and the
respective conclusions quite legitimate. Both the old
44 THE SUPERNATURAL
view and the new were quite consistent and reasonable
from their respective view-points. God is reasonable
and consistent, and will never start a new process to
accomplish something that He has already established
another process to effect. Still, of course, if He has
two distinct enterprises with different purposes He
may be expected to freely employ in the second enter-
prise other agencies than those employed in the first,
and so we might freely have these events which we
call supernatural.
The old view considered that God did have such a
second and entirely distinct enterprise, which had no
connection with what we call Nature. It considered
that what we call Eeligion or " Grace " was a matter
that lay entirely outside the domain of nature. Nature
has to do with this world. Eeligion has to do or is re-
lated entirely with heaven, where the conditions and
laws of this world do not apply.
Eeligion was considered as an enterprise wherein
God from without undertook to deliver man out of a
situation of ruin into which he had gotten himself in
this world, and to prepare him for entering a new life
in an entirely new world separate and distinct from
this. Of course from that view-point there would not
be any impropriety in God doing whatever He pleased
to accomplish that end, and it could be no reflection on
the adequacy of the work which He had done in nature
since that was a distinct enterprise entirely.
From that point of view any amount of miracles and
special interpositions would be perfectly reasonable.
Indeed we would surely expect that there would be
THE POINT OF VIEW 45
some activities in that enterprise that would be differ-
ent from those that obtain in ordinary nature. So the
old belief in the supernatural was entirely consistent
from its view-point.
But from the modern view-point religion is not thus
something entirely outside of the domain of nature.
It has come to seem unreasonable to modern thought
that God should have two such enterprises entirely
separate and distinct, both concerned with men.
Moreover it makes religion itself seem to be only a
kind of " Repair Shop," a confession of failure in the
first enterprise that had to be remedied by bringing in
an entirely new and separate one. It has come to
seem imperative that we should make religion an
integral part and culmination of the one great enter-
prise that has been in progress all through the ages,
and which we call Nature.
And so the new point of view conceives, as we have
seen, the main purpose of religion to be character.
There is individual character which consists of right-
eousness and goodness in the individual, and collective
character which results from the work of religious men
righting the wrongs and uplifting the condition of
society. All this attempted under the help and direc-
tion of God is what constitutes that noble thing which
we call religion.
This certainly is an integral part of the evolu-
tion system. While it implies incompleteness in the
present state of affairs, and that "Perishing of
the Unfit" which characterizes all the evolution pro-
gram, yet it does not make any implication of fail-
46 THE SUPEHNATUKAL
ure or of new interpositions to remedy an unsuccessful
work.
Eeligion is thus in the fullest degree a part of the
evolution process, for it is but carrying on to comple-
tion that which it is the work of the whole process to
effect. That whole process is a process of elevating
and producing things of higher and higher moral
worth. This is but the highest and noblest part of
that one great enterprise of character building.
Here is a long process by which God is developing
that noble thing— Christian Character. The natural
agencies which He made provision for in the one great
original act of creation were sufficient to almost ac-
complish the result. They were able to take the
Amoeba of one cell and elevate it on up and up to the
level of man, and still on up to the moral level of a
Socrates or a Confucius, but to go one step farther and
elevate that Socrates or Confucius up to the moral
level of the average Christian man was beyond the
power of those provided agencies and necessitated this
supplemental and supernatural divine activity.
Suppose a man was clever enough to contrive a
machine to manufacture screws. The machine would
draw out the steel wire, cut it to the proper length,
taper one end to a point, cut the thread, roughly form
up the head and cut a slit in it, but at that stage it
could do no more, and he would have to take the screw
out of the machine and smooth and polish up the head
by hand. We would say that an inventor who could
go so far could probably go just a little farther, and
perfect his machine so it would finish the whole proc-
THE POINT OF VIEW 47
ess. Certainly we would say that his invention, won-
derful as it was, still was short of perfection if it could
not supply that last little detail also.
Just that is what we are asked to believe concerning
God's work, if the essential object of religion is to im-
prove character, and if it required this expenditure of
special divine activity and special divine teaching in
order to produce this final detail of Christian character.
We cannot wonder at thoughtful men wishing that the
supernatural could be entirely eliminated from our
Bible and from our Christian system.
Is This the True Meaning of Beligion ?
But what if that is not after all the true meaning
and purpose of religion ? There is a story that a cer-
tain Chinese statesman was once watching some college
youths playing a game of lawn tennis. As he watched
them running and straining to knock the little ball
backward and forward over the net he remarked to
his companion :
" It is strange, when the Americans are so clever at
invention, that they have not been able to devise a ma-
chine to perform that operation for them."
Well, though it would have required a rather large
and intricate machine, yet if the only purpose of it all
was to secure that a certain rubber sphere should be
propelled a certain number of times over a net, very
probably American invention would not have found it
an impossible feat to construct a machine that would
perform that operation. And if the forming of high
and pure character was the only purpose, or the con-
48 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
trolling purpose God had in mind in religion, doubtless
He would have been quite able to have arranged for
the machinery of the evolution process to produce that
work adequately, without the supplement of these su-
pernatural accessories.
It is doubtless rather venturesome to dare to suggest
that character and service are not the chief objects of
religion and the highest purpose in life. It is so re-
cently that we have left the lower conception that re-
ligion is merely a means of escaping hell and attaining
heaven, that the early exhilaration of the higher mo-
tive is still upon us. The conception of character build-
ing and social service as the supreme motive has thrilled
and captivated us. It seems such a high, unselfish and
worthy motive in every way. And certainly it is a
noble conception. Even if some other object may
prove itself to be the higher and ultimate object of re-
ligion, we may be sure it will not discredit the impor-
tance of character. Though something else may be
brought to occupy the foreground of the picture we
may be sure that character and service will still be in
the view and in a very prominent position.
But we must venture to claim that the development
of character is not the chief and ultimate object of our
Christian religion. Oar Christian religion is irrevo-
cably committed to the supernatural, and a supernatural
propaganda, as we have seen, could not take that for
its fundamental purpose without discrediting the com-
petence of God's work in creation.
Moreover the Bible itself does not represent that to
be the essence of religion. True, the word Eeligion
THE POINT OF VIEW 49
has various meanings and is sometimes used in that
sense, or the name religion is given to that one of its
products (cf. James 1 : 27). For it is true that our
Christian religion has more influence to produce noble
character and philanthropic service than any other
known agency, and it was intended that it should do
so. It is perfectly right that we should use it as an
effective instrument to gain a higher manhood and
make the world better. But that does not prove that
that is its central and ultimate purpose. Every effect
of an act is not necessarily to be counted as the formal
purpose for which it was performed.
What then is the fundamental meaning of our Chris-
tian religion ? What purpose is there that we may set
down as its real, formal object, a purpose which is of
such a nature as to justify supernatural events taking
place in order to secure its accomplishment ?
Jesus Himself has given us a definition. It was just
before the end, at the Last Supper. He had been hav-
ing that farewell talk with His disciples, and turns for
a few moments of communion with the Father who
had sent Him. In the opening words of that prayer
(John 17 : 1-3) He states that His great purpose in
coming into the world wsls to give Eternal Life to men.
And then He defines TOat that Eternal Life is : " This
is Eternal Life, that they should know thee the only
true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus
Christ."
The great mission which Jesus Christ came into the
world to accomplish was to enable men to know God.
That to Him was the supreme thing, that the essence
50 THE STJPEBNATUBAL
of religion. To know a person is to be on terms of ac-
quaintance with him. It means social intimacy, friend-
ship and personal fellowship. Must we not then put
that down as the meaning and ultimate purpose of re-
ligion, namely, to come into a condition of fellowship
with God ?
Fellowship With God
We will venture to define, then, that the supreme
purpose and fundamental meaning of our religion is
this which Jesus made possible by His coming, namely,
fellowship with God. It is not merely a cold, imper-
sonal scheme for developing character, — a sort of final
finishing and polishing department in the great evolu-
tion factory. Much less is it merely a device to escape
hell and get into heaven, — a sort of great Kescue
Home or Eepair Shop. There may be need enough
for all these in this complex, battle-scarred old world
of ours. But any object of sufficient moment to war-
rant the incarnation of the Supreme Being Himself and
His visible residence for a while among created men,
must certainly be something on a higher level than any
of these.
Beligion is fellowship with God. This is a definition
that puts it in the very highest category possible. It
makes it a thing quite worth}?- of having the greatest
acts done on its account. The reason, perhaps, why it
does not usually impress us more is because it has be-
come so familiar. Our very idea of God has come to
be built around it. God's efforts in that direction have
succeeded so well that we in modern times have thor-
THE POINT OF VIEW , 51
oughly gained this feeling of His approachableness.
We have become impressed with His humanness, — as
indeed He intended we should be, — but at the expense
of His Infinite Majesty.
But if we will just try to think what is implied in
the thought of friendship, intercourse and association
with such a being as we have now come to know the
Creator God is, what vistas of future promise it opens
up as well as what ennobling and purifying of present
life it entails, we will realize that it is truly the highest
definition we could give, that it presents a motive well
worthy of all that religion has claimed to do and be in
the world, and as we shall see later, a motive for which
it would be plausible to expect God to do some things
that He had not done in carrying out the processes of
ordinary nature.
We need hardly add that accepting this view means
no possible slacking of zeal for Social Service, but on
the contrary must result in the greatest help and stimu-
lus for such service ; as we shall more fully see later.
Historical Meaning of the Term
That this is really the true conception of religion will
be readily apparent. Some form of worship or relation
to some kind of gods has always been the kind of cult
to which the name Eeligion has normally been applied.
It is only in very recent years, and under the pressure
of materialistic or naturalistic theories that the attempt
has been made to give anything else except relations
with God or the gods the name of religion.
When we consider the subject of religion as a world
52 THE SUPERNATURAL
phenomenon and as one of the elements of the world's
life, some form of worship or some attitude towards some
kind of gods or superior beings is always considered the
essential feature. That has practically been the ac-
cepted definition of religion. If it could be shown that
any given tribe made no attempt towards any worship
or service of any kind towards any superior spirits or
beings it would be thereby counted that they had no
religion.
Ethics and religion are two distinct movements, and
have had entirely distinct and separate genesis. The
beginning of ethical discipline must have very far ante-
dated the rise of religion, for we see the rudiments of
it already in some of the higher animals. Keligion is
not an outgrowth or product of this ethical discipline.
It is something separate entirely, and with a different
origin. And it is not till we reach a comparatively
late and high form of religion that any considerable
amalgamation of ethics and religion is attempted and
the authority of the gods put forth as the sanction for
moral conduct.
Historically considered, then, and as a phenomenon
of world life, what has been called religion has always
been some sort of attitude towards gods or supernatural
beings. It is the relation with divine or supernatural
beings that constitutes it religion.
The Meaning of the Bible Keligion
If this is the meaning of the term when applied to
the ethnic religions, much more is it so when applied to
Christianity and the Bible religion. Though ethics is
THE POINT OF VIEW 53
made more prominent there, and the ethical standards
put much higher than in any of the ethnic religions,
yet the relation with God is also made very much
more intimate and absolute. It is put, also, upon a
very much more sympathetic and familiar footing. To
those complying with the conditions that relation is
always made one of favour and protection, of confiding
and real intimate fellowship. So intimate and sympa-
thetic is it that the relation of children to a father is
the term by which it is typically expressed.
Certainly since the coming of Christ the fundamental
essence of the Christian religion has been communion
and fellowship with God. That is the religion of the
New Testament and the religion which Christ both
taught and practiced. And as we shall see later, it is
equally so of the Old Testament as well.
The evidence that this is so lies not so much in spe-
cific proof texts, though there are plenty of them (John
6 : 29 ; 15 : 15 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 9 ; 1 John 1 : 3, etc., etc.), as in
the whole tenor of the teaching and the very nature of
the system itself.
From first to last it is a personal relation to God that
is urged and invited. Salvation is represented as recon-
ciliation to God, bringing the prodigal back again to
his father's house. The Christian life is always repre-
sented as serving God, walking with God, enjoying the
favour and presence of God. Even sin is often rated
not from its ethical badness nor its desert of punish-
ment but from the fact that it separates us from God.
Man's better character and conduct are represented as
the result of a close relation with God rather than the
54 THE SUPERNATURAL
relation with God a result of the better conduct and
character.
The purpose of the Bible is not theoretical but prac-
tical, and as the consequences of that new relation are
so enormous to us, delivering us from eternal ruin and
bringing to us an eternity of happiness, it is not strange
that the consideration of those results bulks large in
the teaching. It is not strange that Paul, writing to
the Komans, a people where the authority of law was
so prominently in the foreground, should make much
of the point of " Justification by Faith." And yet,
writing to other communities of a more contemplative
turn he merely goes a little farther and shows that
even this justification is for the purpose of bringing
us back to God that in the ages to come He might
lavish upon us the wealth of His loving fellowship
(Eph. 2 : 7). Even to the Romans the justification is
not an end but a means to a closer relation with God
(Rom. 5 : 1).
The one thing which the New Testament always
lays stress upon as the condition of salvation and basis
of religious life is Faith, and this faith is practically
almost another name for fellowship. It is true that
this faith was once supposed to be merely the belief of
various doctrines, and it seems to be so defined in some
of the ancient creeds. But we now recognize that the
" Faith " intended is something far more than that. It
is not mere intellectual belief but a personal connection
between the soul and God. It is a matter of trust and
felt personal relation with a sympathetic God. Such
faith is really one element of fellowship and certainly
THE POINT OF VIEW 55
implies the existence of this which we have called
" Fellowship with God." It is the attitude of the soul
that looks for and desires fellowship, and the attitude
that makes fellowship possible.
The most conclusive consideration of all is Prayer.
Prayer is an essential and fundamental feature in all
religions everywhere, and certainly it has always been
considered so in the Christian religion. The very es-
sence of Christian prayer is communion and fellowship
with God. We might almost say prayer is fellowship
and that only, for really the things granted in answer
to prayer are not the purpose for which prayer was in-
stituted. The purpose for which prayer was designed
by God was the fellowship of the prayer itself, and that
is the main object. The things granted are merely a
means to induce men to come and engage in the fellow-
ship. Certainly prayer is fellowship, and prayer is the
very essence of our religion.
Even heaven, the goal of religious hope, is presented
to us as a matter of fellowship with God (John 14 : 3 ;
Phil. 1 : 23, etc.). True, our materialistic imaginations
have filled in the details with all kinds of materialistic
and sensuous apparatus of pleasure, but the actual teach-
ing of the Bible presents it chiefly as going to be with
God in the glory of His presence, — as " Being at home
with the Lord " (2 Cor. 5 : 8).
The whole practice of the Christian life, the condition
of entrance to it and the heaven to which it looks for-
ward all consist essentially of some phase of fellowship
with God. If we wish to define the place of our
religion among the facts and forces of the world we are
56 THE SUPERNATURAL
right in taking that as the term that really defines it.
That is its value, and that is the place we must assign
it in the great scheme of God's unfolding evolution.
Christianity is " Fellowship with God."
It may be asked : What is new in that ? Christians
have always recognized that they have fellowship with
God, and that it is a most blessed privilege. With
many of the mystics it has bulked large, filling all the
horizon of their deepest experiences. Even those who
make most of social service and development of char-
acter do not necessarily lose sight of this other fact of
fellowship with God, and may consider it a very im-
portant source of strength and comfort.
Precisely so. Our hearts have often judged more
truly than our intellects. It is true we have always
recognized that it is a factor, but we have not always
put it in its proper place as the very center of the
picture. It is not a question of the greatness of the
benefit to us, nor a question of what we should spend
most time and zeal upon, but a question of what is
really the central and governing fact. The mountain
may bulk larger in a picture than the deer in the fore-
ground, nevertheless the picture is a picture of a deer
and not a picture of the mountain, and is to be so
judged.
Very possibly it is not the contemplation of this
fellowship, but works of active social service and self-
culture that ought to occupy the larger part of our
time and interest. It is true that the deliverance from
ruin and promise of eternal happiness do naturally
make the stronger pull upon our feelings and will
THE POINT OF VIEW 57
furnish the stronger motive to induce men to enter the
religious life. They will, and ought to be, for a long
while yet, perhaps, the main staple of evangelistic
preaching. And yet not these but fellowship with God
is the central fact, the ultimate purpose and what we
must define the real essence of religion to be.
Now if the essence of religion is fellowship with
God we shall see as we proceed that not only would it
not be a violation of nature and a burden to the cause
of Christianity for such things as these supernatural
incidents in the Bible to occur, but they are really
normal and necessary. Indeed religion could not arise
and exist without the occurrence or at least the belief
of some such acts.
IV
SOCIAL SEKVICE
IT will not be surprising if some are not disposed to
greet very enthusiastically the demand that we
must substitute "Fellowship with God" as the
essential aim of religion in place of the cultivation of
Character and Social Service. What ! Are we to go
back to the middle age conception ! Are we to en-
courage people to live in cells and cloisters and spend
their time in rapt meditation, — and leave the world to
groan and rot !
Not at all. These great philanthropic and sociological
enterprises are the glory of our awakened Christian
life. They are themselves part of the fellowship
(Matt. 25 : 40 ff.). They are preeminently the mission,
as they should be the passion, of every Christian man.
They may well be said to gauge the genuineness of any
man's religion in these days.
But that does not mean that religion itself may not
contain something else than these, noble as they are.
Even admitting that they ought to be the supreme
absorbing employment of every friend of God, that
does not prove that the friendship itself, and the per-
sonal fellowship and communion, are not something to
be considered and are not something higher and nobler
even than this Service and this Character.
58
SOCIAL SEEYICE 59
Social Service Our Chief Work but Fellow-
ship a Higher Thing
Unquestionably these great civic, ethic and sociolog-
ical movements mark the highest standard to which
Christian living has yet attained. The more religious
a man is to-day the more completely he will absorb his
life and energies in forwarding these noble ends, and the
more completely he ought to do so. But that does not
prove that there may not be something else intrinsically
higher than all these, and that higher something the
thing to which we ought properly to give the name
Keligion.
If a man is a grocery man or in some other business
he ought to give his most earnest thought and energy
to that business. The one great purpose and effort of
his life will be to sell as many groceries as possible
and do a large and successful business. During the
larger part of his waking hours his thoughts and efforts
will be strenuously engaged in that one enterprise.
But that does not say that he does not prize his home
with its personal fellowship with wife and children,
and that he may not consider that personal relationship
and fellowship a thing far higher than his selling
groceries.
The fellowship does not interfere with his selling
groceries. It does not even compete with it. The
more he loves his wife and children, and the more he
prizes their fellowship, the more he will strive to make
his business successful. That home fellowship is some-
thing different from and on a higher plane entirely than
the selling groceries.
60 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
Just so, our fellowship with God is a something on a
higher plane than even our caring for the sick and
revising factory laws. It is not to be questioned which
should be given more prominence or more time, any-
more than in the other case the man questions to which
he shall give the more prominence or more time, selling
groceries or loving his family. The two are not com-
petitors in any sense. So these two also are not con-
petitors whose relative importance is to be calculated
and balanced. The love and fellowship with God is a
something on a higher plane and in a separate category
entirely.
Fellowship Stimulates Service, and Yet That
is Not Its Main Purpose
We may say truly that the more a man loves and
has fellowship with God the more earnestly he will
devote his life to these noble practical aims, just as we
have said that the more a man loves his wife and chil-
dren the more he will feel impelled to try to be success-
ful in business. No man can say that urging an increased
spirit of fellowship and communion with God is likely
to draw off interest from the sociological and ethical
work. On the contrary, there is nothing that has so
much influence in rousing and intensifying passion for
that work as a real fellowship with God. If one is
anxious to see this sociological work carried on vigor-
ously there is nothing else that will so much forward it
as to have men come into warm and constant personal
fellowship with God.
And yet, on the other hand, we must repudiate
SOCIAL SERVICE 61
strongly the idea that this fellowship with God is
primarily for the sake of the social service, that it is to
be considered but a means to produce that service, that
that is its main use and it is to be esteemed and encour-
aged primarily for that reason. He would not have a
very high idea of life who would say that since the
more a man loves his wife and children the more ear-
nestly he will try to be successful in his grocery busi-
ness, therefore family affection ought to be urged and
encouraged for the sake of the grocery trade.
Sooial Seevice is Fellowship, and Yet Fel-
lowship Tkanscejstds It
We have not, however, given an entirely fair illus-
tration. For this service of morals and sociology is not
an enterprise separate and apart. It is fellowship. It
is really itself a high form of fellowship, for it is work-
ing side by side with God in the same work with Him.
This social work is God's own great enterprise, and the
very matter of working at it is engaging with Him in
the same work in which He is engaged, and that is
fellowship. This sociological work itself can really all
be included under the one term as part of that great
something which we call fellowship with God.
And still, though social service may be truly fellow-
ship with God yet we must not forget that fellowship
far transcends this service. The service is only one
part or one feature of the fellowship.
A man comes home and helps his wife beat the car-
pets and clean the windows, and that very work is a
form of fellowship with her. But home fellowship and
62 THE SUPEENATUEAL
family life is something more than house-cleaning. It
is a higher concept entirely, however necessary the
house-cleaning may be.
Moreover, houses were not made only for cleaning.
Though some men may be inclined to think otherwise
when the spring house-cleaning drags on day after
day, yet it is normally to be expected that some time
it will be finished, and only the daily dusting and
tidying will be sufficient for the needs of comfortable
living.
So this moral renovating and cleaning of the house
social and civic, though it does seem to be a long and
tedious process, yet we cannot believe to be necessarily
a permanent part of the world's program and always
a major feature of the meaning of right life. As truly
as that work is efficiently done it must more and more
tend to become unnecessary. There ought to come a
time when it will no longer be a main feature of human
duty. The house will be cleaned.
That happy time may not be for a hundred years
yet, or even for many hundred years. ■ Yet even so,
who can say that in the whole long range of coming
human history our present age, when social service is
the most pressing duty, may not be comparatively but
like one short house-cleaning week. In the Bible
teaching there are passages that are usually interpreted
to indicate that there is such a prospect in the future,
extending out to a far horizon, during which the world
is to be a scene of happy " Millennial " purity. Will
there be nothing to constitute religion then because
there is no more house-cleaning to be done ?
SOCIAL SEEVICE 63
Fellowship Demands Service, But it is Service
for Fellowship's Sake
Now, in this house-cleaning age, we must recognize
that house-cleaning is the one supremely important
thing to be done. Let us not slacken our efforts or
interest in any respect, but rather increase them. Nor
must it be any disparagement of this civic and socio-
logical work to say that there is another category on a
distinctly higher plane, and the real essence of religion
is this fellowship with God. To exalt that fellowship
is no incentive or excuse to neglect the social service,
but quite the reverse. For under present circum-
stances fellowship with God can only be counted to
subsist where there is an interest in that sociological
work, for there is where God and His interest are at
present. A man can hardly claim to be on terms of
very devoted love and fellowship with his wife if he
sits idly by reading poetry while his wife has her
sleeves rolled up and is scrubbing, lifting and cleaning.
Now is a time when our fellowship with God must
show itself chiefly in our passion for this work in which
He is interested and engaged.
But even so, we must not lose sight of the fea-
ture of fellowship in that social service. That is the
point that we are insisting on here. For it is the
reality of this feature of fellowship which is the jus-
tification of all this which is called the Supernatural in
religion.
There is an important difference between mere
house-cleaning as a fact in itself and house-cleaning con-
sidered as a feature of family life and fellowship, — be-
64 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
tween merely cleaning a house as a fact and fellowship
expressing itself through necessary house-cleaning. In
the one case all that is necessary is physical strength
and some training. In the other case there has been
involved at some time a wedding, before that a court-
ship, a meeting and a long acquaintance. All of these
have been necessary antecedents of that family life and
affectionate fellowship of which this house-cleaning is
one present necessary expression.
If we look upon family life as merely an expedient to
insure having some one to help with the house-cleaning
then all this matter of courtship and affection must
seem superfluous and absurd, — just as miracles would
be superfluous if ethics and social service were the sole
aim of religion.
ISTo supernatural elements, that is no special display
by God of personal interest in us, would have been
necessary if ethical considerations and sociological
reforms were alone as independent facts, and were the
highest possible discipline of the human life. All that
would then have been necessary would have been
education and motive, — training and wages. Both of
these could be provided for in the ordinary operation of
nature, without the personal meeting, courtship, wed-
ding and affectionate intercourse of God's supernatural
dispensations towards men. But these are absolutely
necessary to effect that spirit of family affection and
fellowship with God, which, though it is the main sup-
port of all the present sociological movement, yet far
transcends it, and is a fact in itself, on an immensely
higher plane.
SOCIAL SEEVICE 65
Mistaken Conceptions of Fellowship
One reason why we have not given fellowship with
God the chief place as the essential meaning of religion
is because we have had a wrong and inadequate idea as
to what kind of a thing fellowship with God ought
to be.
We make the mistake of thinking that fellowship
with God is an emotional something that has only to
do with quiet hours of abstraction and meditation.
This is a practical age. This is an age for doing things,
not for cultivating our obscure feelings, — not for forcing
a sentimental glow of emotions but for hard-headed
planning, studying and working, to meet the strenuous
conditions of life and fill creditably one's place in
society, as well as to help other men and better the
condition of the world.
But fellowship with God is not necessarily a matter
of soft, sentimental feelings. Our fellowship with
men is not necessarily of that nature. The fellowship
of two sentimental schoolgirls may have considerable
of the soft emotional about it. But our fellowship
with people will be very much in accord with our
characters and occupations. The fellowship of scholars
will be on a scholarly plane. The fellowship of two
great engineers or artists will be infused with their
work and interests. Two business partners may have
most intimate and constant fellowship consisting almost
entirely of hard-headed business planning and working.
God is a being of boundless wisdom. Surely the
scholar may have a fellowship with such a God fully
appropriate and satisfying to his scholarly nature. God
66 THE SUPEENATUEAL
made the world with all its mechanical and chemical
subtleties, a most intricate and capable machine and a
most perfect work of art, and He is constantly manag-
ing all its interests and operations with perfect compe-
tence. No engineer or artist, no business man or keen
executive, need fear that in fellowship with God he is
not meeting with one fully his equal in his own specialty,
and one whom he can treat and associate with on that
basis. He who spent fifteen long years with hammer
and saw and plane in the Nazareth shop, working to
buy bread for His mother and younger brothers, can
be a congenial enough companion for any working
man to-day.
Is it perhaps because of exaggerated prominence we
have so long given to pardon of sins and the conditions
of entering heaven that we have come to consider God
a being chiefly interested in exercises of obscure, intro-
spective emotion, when really He is the most out-
of-doors, practical, businesslike being in the whole
universe. To come into real, practical companionship
with such a being must be a bracing inspiration to any
man in any business. There may be a fit place for
emotion, and there is an important use for " The Quiet
Hour," but in ordinary practice the greater part of our
fellowship with God is to be something erect, open-
eyed, in the broad daylight of our busy working day
life.
Shall we ask for a definition of this word Fellow-
ship? Like a great many other things, perhaps, we
know it in our own experience better than we can
define it in terms. Of course Prayer is a part of it, —
SOCIAL SERVICE 67
but only a part. Not all of our human fellowship
consists in talking with each other. True fellowship is
something far deeper, of which talking is only an
incident.
Among other things it will imply harmony and
cooperation in various lines. There should be harmony
of desire, — which in the case of such a friend as God
must be the same as obedience. There will be harmony
of ideals, which will affect the whole range of character
and ethics. There will be unity of purpose, which
again must bring in the whole field of social service, —
especially since Christ Himself has said, — " Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these ye have
done it unto me."
In general, all that range of relations which in the
Bible and Christian literature are indicated by the
terms Faith, Trust, Worship, Service, Communion and
the like are properly included under this term Fellow-
ship. The one essential is that there be an appropriate,
personal friendly relation with a personal God.
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION
TTT'HAT is the place of religion in the evolution
* * scheme , or in the course of nature? Under
the old conception that religion was merely a
means for getting into heaven, it had no place there.
It was distinctly differentiated from things natural,
and declared to have no connection with this world or
natural law.
Under the more modern popular conception religion
is brought entirely within the sphere of nature and
made an integral part of evolution and natural law.
But it is made so at the expense of all its distinctive
individuality. It is nob a separate and distinct thing
at all but just a separate name given to old elements
always familiar in nature. It is merely aspiration
after improvement of character, — merely morality,
sociology and altruistic emotion, tinged with more or
less belief of the existence of God.
If our definition is correct, and its essence is fellow-
ship with God, has religion then any place in the
scheme of nature and evolution? If so, what is its
place in the scheme ?
We will find that it has a most natural and integral
place in the scheme of nature and evolution, and that
its standing is not that of a mere blend of old and
familiar elements, but it is, as we instinctively feel it
68
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION 69
ought to be, a new, a higher and a critical advance step
in that great evolution progress. It is a step entirely
different from anything achieved in the lower reaches
of the evolution process, yet entirely consistent with
that process. Indeed it is a step of such a nature that
all the rest of the process may be conceived as pre-
paratory to it, and looking forward to it as its goal or
purpose.
God's Kelation to This Woeld
If religion is thus really a part of the evolution
program what is its relation to the rest of evolved
nature ? To answer this question we must first define
the connection of God with nature, since religion, as
we assume, consists in a personal relation with God.
In nature and the evolution process the theistic
evolutionist sees merely God's method of working.
Whether we consider the energies and elements of
nature to be independent entities, and that He created
and controls them, or whether we consider them to be
His immediate activity exerted at the time, is a ques-
tion of no particular urgency. In either case equally
it is all His work, instituted and established by Him.
If it is all His work, then, as we shall see, with all
its results, it is the expression of some purpose in His
mind. That is the point we wish to emphasize. Each
and every feature of nature is the result of some real
purpose or desire in the mind of God.
The theistic evolutionist sees in God not merely
some force or agency behind nature producing its laws,
but a living, autonomous person. He conceives God to
be a real, intelligent, personal being, and as such always
70 THE SUPERNATURAL
acting with purpose, that is to say, to satisfy some
desire.
As a matter of fact we naturally conceive of Him
in terms of man's own spirit or mind. He may be far
more than that, and may have attributes and powers
we cannot construct any conception of. But we have
good reason to believe He has all the attributes and
faculties that man's spirit or mind has. And so we
form our conception of Him by imagining such a mind
in infinite proportions.
To do this is not the belittling of God to man's form,
which is popularly called Anthropomorphism. On the
contrary it is forming the highest conception of God
that it is possible for us to form. "We have no higher
materials out of which to construct a conception.
It is those who reject this conception who belittle
God. To consider Him merely a great force or tend-
ency is to make Him merely a species of physical
energy, like heat or gravity, and measurable in horse-
powers. To consider Him merely a great pervasion of
life or mind stuff, without consciousness and without
personality, is really to classify God as a great vegetable.
We are not to define Him by bounding Him with
any of the limitations of our own minds, but if we
would form our highest possible conception of God we
must conceive that He is all that we are and that all
our ordinary positive thought processes or powers have
a place in His mind.
Now one of the most essential and fundamental fea-
tures of man's mind is Purpose. Purpose or desire
forms the source of all our acts. We have a desire,
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION 71
and we do a certain thing to realize that desire and get
pleasure or satisfaction. Such is the essence of all per-
sonal activity. If God is to be conceived in terms of
the attributes of our own minds we must believe, as
we have said above, that He also has that trait and
that His acts are done to realize some satisfaction
which He desires.
What Was God's Purpose?
If it be proper then for us to interpret all God's acts
in terms of desire and purpose we may reasonably ask
the question : — What satisfaction did God wish to obtain
by any given act ?
With us the satisfaction of any act may be physical,
mental, social or purely ethical, but some desired satis-
faction stands before every act as its purpose. The
more mature, cultured and competent we are the more
fully we will perceive and enjoy all the satisfactions
that any act makes possible. If God is infinite and
perfect we may assume that He perceives, enjoys and
intended to enjoy all the satisfactions His works are
capable of affording.
This great universe progress or evolution process, if
it is God's work, must not be looked upon as merely an
aimless splash of articulated logic spreading out in
various directions. It is a volitional act done with a
purpose. And we must assume that God does enjoy,
and intended to enjoy, every item of satisfaction that
it is capable of yielding Him.
If by this great process He has made radiant suns
revolving in beautiful orbits, we may assume that He
72 THE SUPEENATUEAL
enjoys fully all the satisfaction their beauty is capable
of affording Him, and that He intended to enjoy it in
making them. If He has made marvellous intricacies
of chemical and physical interaction, forms of crystalli-
zation and beauties of colour, we may assume that He
takes from them all the artistic satisfaction they are
capable of affording, and that He intended to do so.
If He made animals with their wonderful actions, and
man's mind with its wonderful powers of logic, memory
and imagination, we may assume that these too are
things that He takes satisfaction in watching and con-
templating.
Social Fellowship is the Highest Kind of
Satisfaction
While we could find satisfaction in the enjoyment of
any or all of such things, there is one source of satis-
faction and enjoyment that is far higher and more
satisfactory to us than any one of these. That is per-
sonal fellowship, — the social intercourse of soul with
soul. That we consider the highest and most satisfac-
tory form of enjoyment, and in a class by itself above
all other kinds.
If there were the possibility then of God's taking
that kind of satisfaction also from anything that He
had made, must we not assume that He would cer-
tainly do so ? When His created creatures had evolved
up to the level of intellectual, moral, social man there
was a creature which could afford to Him that species
of satisfaction. There was a creature that could afford
to Him precisely this which we consider the highest
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION 73
form of satisfaction. So must we not assume that He
would take the enjoyment of that fellowship, and that
that was one of His intentions in the development of
this creature, man ? Or rather we may say : — When
the Bible distinctly declares that God does desire and
ask for that fellowship we must at least concede that it
is not declaring something unscientific or illogical.
To say that there could be this interplay of social
communion between man and God does not imply that
man has become as great as God or in the same class
with Him. It merely implies that God is as great as
man and has every capacity and faculty that man has.
"With a being of a still higher order than man there
might be between that being and God something as
much higher than this fellowship as social fellowship is
higher than chemical affinity. But this interplay of
soul communion which can take place between you and
another man can certainly take place between you and
God, for God has every power and capacity that that
other man has. And in as far as God's nature is to be
conceived in terms of our nature we must assume that
He would find satisfaction in that interplay of com-
munion, would want it, and would plan to have it.
This fellowship with God which our Bible teaches is
a perfectly natural extension then of the one great
evolution progress. It is simply the highest yet evolved
of many progressive advances. We may start with
merely matter and energy existing. Then we have
next physical motions and chemical affinity,— the
action of energy upon matter. Then we have life,—
the control of energy and matter by life and mind,
74 THE SUPERNATURAL
culminating in conscious volition and an autonomous
person. As this person advances higher and higher he
at length reaches a stage when there is possible this
communion and companionship between him and God,
so that begins.
It is no more supernatural or abnormal for it to be-
gin than it was for chemical combination to begin as
soon as advancing conditions arrived at the stage
where it was possible, or for life to begin its career of
control and conscious achievement as soon as the con-
ditions had developed for that.
It is all very natural, indeed necessary, when we
come to take this ultimate and adequate view of the
evolution process, — when we come to view as the basal
fact not the material and energies and the changes they
are made to go through, but God planning all those
changes and effectively bringing them about. Viewed
that way evolution has intelligible meaning. That is
the only view of evolution that philosophy and the-
ology should take or can be satisfied with. Nor has
science any particular reason to combat that view.
Clear-Cut Concept of God
It may seem at first, perhaps, to some that this is
merely a speculative discursion, — interesting but of no
conclusive value. But it is more than that. It is
rather an attempt to force a clear-cut form to our con-
ception of God, — the common conception that " God is
a Spirit," and to follow that conception out to its legit-
imate results. It is not scientific to form hazy, indis-
tinct, indefinite conceptions. If there are just three
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION 75
kinds of things that we know anything about, — matter,
energy and mind, — we do know something very defi-
nite about each of them, as to what they can do, and
we must treat them accordingly.
If we conceive a thing to be matter we must think of
it as having the attributes that matter has ; if as energy
we must think of it in terms of the attributes and laws
that energy has. Equally if we conceive it to be mind
we must think of it in terms of the characteristic at-
tributes and propensities that mind is known to have.
We are merely insisting that God, " A Spirit," must
be conceived as having the characteristic attributes and
propensities that we see in the other spirits that we
know, that is to say that like all other minds He does
things to secure satisfactions that He desires. Also
that like all other minds that we know, one of the
things that would appeal to Him as a satisfaction to
be desired would be fellowship and personal intercourse
with other minds.
We perhaps should note the fact that the pleasure
we find in fellowship comes from giving favours and
happiness to a loved one quite as much or more than
from receiving favours. The higher and purer the na-
ture of the man the more the pleasure of giving comes
to exceed the pleasure of receiving. We might con-
ceive, therefore, that with the infinitely high and per-
fect nature of God it would be the pleasure of giving
favours only that He would desire. When we speak
hereafter of God deriving pleasure from our fellowship
we ought perhaps to consider that this giving of
favours is what affords Him pleasure in the fellowship.
76 THE SUPERNATURAL
Still that is real fellowship and all we may say applies
to that as much as to any other kind of fellowship, if
that is the thing that God desires. All our obedience,
service and communion may be desired by God only
for the benefit and happiness they bring to us.
Grant then that the evolution process is the product
of mind acting with a purpose, and it is perfectly legit-
imate and logical to conclude, from the analogy of
our own minds, that one of the purposes or desires the
Supreme Mind might have had in view was the satis-
faction of fellowship and personal communion with
these evolved minds as soon as they had evolved high
enough to make it possible.
We say " might have had," for notice that all we
are trying to show in this place is merely that the
fellowship with God, which our Bible teaches, is in the
line of the evolution process, — that it belongs in the
same enterprise as all the rest of nature. We are not
claiming by the above argument to positively prove
that this fellowship is a fact and that God desires it,
though really the argument does have great force as
pointing that way. We have that belief already from
other sources. We are taking for granted that God
does desire this fellowship, — that there is sufficient
ground in the Bible and in other religious teaching
for believing that God's desire for this fellowship and
His granting it to men is a fact. We are merely in-
sisting here that this accepted fact of fellowship be-
tween men and God is not something entirely apart
from nature and outside of the evolution process. It is
strictly part and parcel of the one great scheme of na-
PLACE OF KELIGION IN EVOLUTION 77
ture. It is distinctly connected with and implied in
the great evolution movement, — if indeed it may not
be considered the one great goal and culmination of
the whole process of biological evolution.
It is thus then that we would find our answer to the
question, " What is the relation of religion to nature
and the evolution process ? " It is an integral part
and culmination of it all. For religion is fellowship
with God, and this fellowship with God is quite of a
piece with God's purpose in all the rest of evolving
nature.
PURPOSE OF THE WHOLE EVOLUTION PROCESS
Keally the theistic scientist should be a much more
enthusiastic admirer of evolution than the materialist
or agnostic, because it means so much more to him and
is so much more complete and reasonable. The mate-
rialist or agnostic merely sees a long chain of articulated
changes following each other and growing out of cause
and effect. He follows back along the route of this
progress, and presently he comes to a great chasm that
he cannot bridge. For the introduction of life is a fact
for which he has thus far been unable to find any
adequate cause.
But picking up the trail again beyond that break,
he finds the same receding line of physical interactions
and chemical combinations. He follows still back.
He knows that this progress could not have been going
on forever. It must have started some time but he is
utterly unable to find any cause that could have started
it, or any reason why it should not have started un-
78 THE SUPERNATURAL
thinkable millions of ages earlier if it was capable of
starting at all.
Beyond a certain point in the past, then, there is to
him an utterly incomprehensible blank. Looking for-
ward also he is able to see nothing but the gradual
running down of the forces and processes now in prog-
ress, and beyond that an equally void and incom-
prehensible blank.
To the materialist evolution is merely a magnificent
fragment. It is like a vast bridge, resting on nothing
at either end, and even broken in two in the middle.
But to the theistic evolutionist all is clear and logical,
and as natural as for a man to move his hand or limb.
It is all simply an act of God done by Him to achieve
some object which He wished to achieve. God stands
in eternity, like all mind or spirit not necessitated to
fixed times but freely at His own will and time origi-
nating acts and carrying them on. This great universe
process, so long and vast to us, is but one of His leisurely
acts. He began it when He chose to do so, and is con-
sistently and competently carrying it on.
Not only does every phase of the act and its product
yield presumably some satisfaction to Him, but we
may plausibly suppose that, like our acts, it has some
central, determining purpose which is the primary
object it is to achieve in its totality.
If this be so it would not be impossible to suppose
that this main purpose of it all or at least of that part
of it which we call Biological Evolution was precisely
this which we have been considering, this desire on
God's part to have this pleasure of fellowship,— to pro-
PLACE OF BELIGION IN EVOLUTION 79
duce a race of beings capable of affording Him this
opportunity which He desired of bestowing fellow-
ship.
We must not suppose, of course, that this means any-
thing like a companionship of equality between God
and men. It does not mean that like companionship
between equals this would fill all God's mind and be a
major factor in His life. We may suppose that it
would be no more to God comparatively than to a man
would be the companionship of a pet bird or kitten, or
something a million times smaller still. Yet it would
be true, genuine fellowship. God did want it. And
all this evolution process was His act bringing it about.
And all this evolution process, by the way, though so
long to us, is an act that would bulk no larger, com-
paratively, in His infinite life than would to a man the
act of plucking a violet to smell its fragrance.
The Evolution Process Foreshadows Fellow-
ship by Men With God
When we turn to the converse side we find practically
the same lesson taught by the evolution process.
Progress has branched out in many directions, and
various different species might perhaps be considered
the most advanced in each of several lines. We might,
perhaps, consider the tiger, the elephant, the eagle, the
ant, etc., as each marking the highest attainment of
evolution in their particular directions. And yet in
considering the ultimate trend or meaning of the
evolution system we do not consider any one of them
of any significance, but only the one line which has led
80 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
up to our human species, and man himself at the head
of it.
In man himself we no longer consider the develop-
ment of the physical body as the significant, governing
fact, but wholly the development in the sphere of mind
and spiritual functions.
There have been several great items of development
in this sphere. At some point in the past the advanc-
ing species first developed the power of abstract
thought, of logical reasoning, of articulate speech, of
moral consciousness. All these were advance steps,
taken when the time was ripe for them. And they
added very much to the worth and rank of the develop-
ing creature.
Of course the evolution advance is going on now just
as much as ever. There are new forward steps yet to
be taken by this developing species. This advance may
possibly be in a number of different lines, but there is
one line most plausible and probable and which seems
to be the most promising of them all. That is the line
of social progress.
Man has made great advance and development on
the side of his social nature. Social fellowship is
perhaps the most important of all the factors that
make up life. It is noble and ennobling in proportion
with the greatness and nobility of the persons with
whom we have the social fellowship. If then we
should come to be able to have this same social fellow-
ship with God Himself it would manifestly mean the
greatest benefit and ennobling that we can conceive of,
coming to us.
PLACE OP RELIGION IN EVOLUTION 81
As we look back over the course of evolution we see
evolving nature apparently able some way to attain
every phase of advance that has presented itself as
valuable. In every case, in some way the facilities
have at the right time been provided for making the
particular advance that would be profitable. Analogy
would therefore lead us to expect that this advance
step will also be made, and that the facilities will all be
afforded for man to make it. It certainly would be a
most fitting and most splendid next step of evolution
progress, and we may believe that it is very probable
that it will actually be made.
The facilities that would make this fellowship possible
would be for God to bestow manifest acts of fellow-
ship on His part, and to plainly invite it from us. It
is not unreasonable, therefore, to expect that such acts
of fellowship would be granted by Him to us. And
that is just what He is represented as doing in all the
supernatural in the Bible. That is exactly what all
the supernatural is.
We have seen, then, that an advance into a state of
fellowship with God seems a plausible next step in the
evolution of man. And we have also seen that consider-
ations of God's purpose in the whole creation process
would lead us to expect that He would want that fellow-
ship and would therefore bestow fellowship upon us.
From both sides, thus, it is seen to appear probable
that the next step in the evolution process at this point
will be an advance into a state of social fellowship be-
tween God and men. And this is precisely what we
have defined religion in its essence to be.
82 THE SUPERNATURAL
Religion, therefore, defined as personal fellowship
between men and God, is not only something consistent
with and part of the evolution system. It is a supreme
and culminating part of that system, to which all the
lower parts of the system look forward as their purpose
or goal. And all the supernatural in the Bible, since it
is but the concrete acts of that fellowship on God's
side, is really a perfectly logical and integral part of
the one great evolution movement.
VI
VALUE OF THE SUPERNATURAL
WHAT, then, is the meaning, the value and
the use of the supernatural in the Bible?
It is not enough merely to prove that it is
not unreasonable, not a blemish and a burden. It must
have some positive use. And since it is such a large
factor and prominent feature of the Book it must have
some very important and fundamental value. What is
that value ? The answer has been already quite evi-
dently outlined.
It is too common with us to think of all God's ac-
tions towards men as intended solely to advance right
living and make the world better. We thus conceive
that the supernatural should be primarily a contribu-
tion towards that object, that the prophecy and revela-
tion were intended to teach men right conduct and the
supernatural acts to reward or punish them for their
good or bad lives. Or on broader lines we conceive of
God dealing with nations to restrain their evil tenden-
cies, and to specially preserve and prosper one nation
that was better than the rest and train and make it fit
to be a model and inspiration to the rest of the world.
Really God does do all those things, but He does not
do them by supernatural acts. He does them all by
natural law. He was wise and competent enough to be
able in His first great creative system to foresee and
83
84 THE SUPEE^ATUEAL
provide entirely sufficient agencies for all that. He
never has to do any supplementary work now for that
purpose. As we have already seen, any supplementary
acts now primarily for such a purpose would be a re-
flection on the sufficiency of His great creative act, —
which was explicitly declared to be " All very Good "
(Gen. 1. 31).
Secondary Uses
A very common interpretation is that the supernatu-
ral acts, or many of them, were done for the purpose
of accrediting divine teachers and teaching. God was
giving revelation of rules for right living and worship,
and in order that men might be assured that these
rules and commandments were really from God He
accompanied them with various supernatural signs as
proof that they were really from Him. Various im-
portant religious doctrines were revealed, and in order
that men should be convinced that they were from God
and to be believed, God accompanied their revelation
with some special divine mark or supernatural sign.
It cannot be denied that that value does inhere in
some of these acts. Such acts as are recorded to have
been done by Christ and by the apostles and prophets
are certainly adequate proof that the power of God was
working through and with them, and they do increase
our feeling that what they said and did had the in-
dorsement of God. Jesus Himself appeals to His
supernatural works as evidence of His person and
authority (John 10 : 3S), though there is conclusive
proof that that was not the motive that prompted
them (cf. Mark 8:12). ,
YALUE OF THE SUPEKNATUKAL 85
Since we can find, as we see elsewhere, an entirely
sufficient motive for all these supernatural facts aside
from their evidential or disciplinary value, and a mo-
tive that brings them entirely within the program of
nature and the evolution scheme, we may freely admit
that as secondary results or by-products they not only
give important teaching and accredit divine agents, but
were definitely intended by God to do so. Saying
that is saying no more than when we say : — " The
heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament
showeth his handiwork." Both the act of making the
heavens revolve and the act of performing these special
personal deeds are equally and alike proofs of the
presence of God and contributions to our knowledge of
Him. But that is not the principal purpose that pro-
duced the acts in either case.
These acts have on appropriate grounds an acknowl-
edged and integral place in the one great universe
scheme, and their specialness is fully justified, so there
is no more incongruity in their contributing to common
evolutional enterprises, like the teaching and welfare
of men, than there would be in electricity or chemical
affinity so contributing. And yet it is impossible for
us to accept that as the principal purpose that produced
them.
It is quite proper, in colloquial use, to say that these
supernatural facts do contribute and were intended to
contribute to the teaching and welfare of men, and to
accredit men with special divine authority. Indeed
in our ordinary devotional thought and evangelical
preaching that, perhaps, is the purpose we ought
86 THE SUPEENATUEAL
chiefly and ordinarily to attribute to them. Just as it
would be silly pedantry in our colloquial talk to refuse
to speak of the sun rising and setting.
But it is different when we come to make an exact
philosophical definition. Then we must recognize that
it would be illogical to conceive of God doing any
special or supernatural act primarily and specifically
for the purpose of giving teaching that could not have
been gotten otherwise, or of accrediting some person to
give such teaching.
Primary Motive of the Supernatural
When we come to make a philosophical definition,
and seek the one fundamental purpose for which all
these supernatural acts were done, we will find that
they were all done as acts of fellowship by God to
men, and done just for fellowship'' s sake. That is their
primary purpose, that is their meaning, and that is
what we must consider the one fundamental value of
all of them.
When we realize that this is their meaning and their
purpose, all the philosophical objections to them dis-
appear entirely. They cease to be exceptional, abnor-
mal events and interpositions that have to be justified
and accounted for, and take their place as a natural
and appropriate,— indeed necessary, — part of the one
great universe enterprise of God.
For we have already seen that the whole of Biological
Evolution seems to look forward as its culmination to
God enjoying fellowship with man when he was de-
veloped. That seems to be the most natural and
Lusible step to expect, and indeed seems to have
en the purpose that underlay the whole enterprise
>m the beginning. And these supernatural acts are
srely the concrete exercise of that fellowship. They
3 really the only way in which it could be effectively
stowed.
All the supernatural acts are personal acts of f ellow-
ip done by God to men just because He wanted to
gage in that fellowship. The fellowship of the acts
emselves was the one great purpose and primary
use, and such a fellowship was a purpose that
actically lay infolded in all the course of evolution
at went before it and led up to it. This fellowship
is as distinctly contemplated in the one great original
nstitution of things as any other part of the evolution
ogram, — just as much as revolving of suns or chemical
inity or human reason. The intention of this fellow-
ip in the mind of God was a distinct part, and
ssibly one of the major parts of the impulse that
ought about the whole universe process.
Fellowship Must Consist of Just Such Acts
It is obvious that fellowship could only be had by
eans of some such acts as these supernatural events
corded in the Bible. It must consist essentially of
st what these acts are. Fellowship must consist of
irsonal acts of God done to specific individuals, and
at is an accurate and complete description of just
hat all these supernatural acts consist of (cf. pp.
>, 34, etc.).
Here then we have the entire answer to the question :
88 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
— What is the purpose, meaning and use of these
supernatural acts? They are all acts of fellowship.
That is the one main purpose that philosophy must
recognize, even though there may be other secondary
results and by-products from them which seem to us
more evident and important because they give such
exceedingly great personal benefits to us.
That God could accord fellowship to men only by
doing acts like these supernatural acts of the Bible will
be readily apparent. What is fellowship ? What is it
as it exists between man and man in human relations ?
We will doubtless agree that it must be something
immediate, something directed to definite individuals
and something personal.
There is no fellowship in the fact that you live
under the rule of the king of England or the emperor
of Germany and get the protection and benefits that
come from their rule. There is no fellowship in the
fact that you contribute a sum of money to a famine
relief fund for a general distribution of food. There
is no fellowship in the fact that you get great benefit
from the machines invented by Singer or Bell.
But it is fellowship when the king or emperor stops
in a hospital to speak a word to a single wounded
soldier, though the benefit received be not nearly so
great as in the other case. It is fellowship if you take
the money or the food and go personally and give it
definitely to one or more sufferers. It is fellowship if the
inventor takes you personally through his factory and
explains all its workings, or even if he merely meets
you on the street and asks the way to the post-office.
VALUE OF THE SUPEKNATUKAL 89
There is no fellowship in the fact that you receive
from God the sunlight and the air, that He makes the
crops grow that feed you and spreads out all nature to
give you instruction, comfort and joy. "In Him we
live and move and have our being," but there is no
fellowship in that.
But it was fellowship if He specially at one single
time provided the meal for the support of the widow
of Sarepta (1 Kings 17 : 16), or preserved the lives of
the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3 : 19-25).
It was fellowship if He stood and talked with Abra-
ham of the eruption that was going to destroy the cities
of the plain (Gen. 18 : 16-33). It was fellowship if He
ever did any favour to any man that was intended di-
rectly for him alone and was not merely a spontaneous
working of natural agencies available for any one that
might avail himself of it.
That is the nature of all these incidents in the Bible
that are called supernatural. They are merely God
doing immediate, personal acts to individuals. They
are acts that are no more divine than the sunlight or
chemical affinity are, but unlike those things they are
acts not universal, continuous and general for all the
world, but restricted to the one time, and specifically
directed to some person or limited group. That is the
feature that causes us to give them the name supernat-
ural. And that really is the feature that gives them
all their value (cf. Chapter II).
This supernatural in the Bible contains just the fea-
tures necessary to constitute it fellowship in the fullest
degree. It is composed of just the two most character-
90 THE SUPEENATUEAL
istic elements that constitute ordinary fellowship. It
consists of both conversations, — prophecy, — and fa-
vours,— miracles, — the very two things most character-
istic of our ordinary human fellowships. If God is to
give fellowship at all this is just the way we must ex-
pect that He would give it.
It is Fellowship foe Fellowship's Sake
These supernatural acts are not primarily a means to
effect something or to prove something. They are the
very thing itself. The mother does not kiss her child
to prove that she loves it or to teach it something, nor
yet for any physical benefit it is to the child. It is not
done as a means for something else. She kisses it be-
cause she wants to kiss it. The kiss itself is the object.
It is the natural method of fellowship between the
mother and her child. It requires no other explana-
tion or justification. Whatever other benefits may or
may not result indirectly from it, that is its essential
meaning and value.
Just so the supernatural, both the favours and the
conversation, is all just the normal, natural outflow of
God's friendship reaching out and touching various
men because God wanted to give friendship, fellowship
and personal touch to them specifically. It is itself the
important fact and itself the purpose and the object.
TVe ought to entirely dismiss from our minds the
idea that God was doing all His recorded acts of kind-
ness and helpfulness to people for the sake of some ul-
terior motive of teaching or elevating the world. That
would be considering God as always " acting a part,"
VALUE OF THE STJPEENATUEAL 91
and in a degree insincere. God is the most genuine
and sincere being in the universe, and we misjudge
Him if we try to attribute any of His acts of kindness
to any ulterior and calculated motives. The personal
kindness itself is always God's primary desire and mo-
tive, and any other beneficial results are entirely sec-
ondary and incidental.
This Supernatural Regime is the Basis and
Substance of Eeligion
Just because these incidents have that meaning, the
fact of their occurrence is a fact of enormous impor-
tance to us. All our religion is based upon that fact
and grows out of it. We could not have any religion
at all without these incidents, or without the belief of
something like them or equivalent to them.
We could have Theology. We could have Ethics.
We could have all that pertains to both belief and
character. Those are things that are amply provided
for by ordinary natural law in the evolution process.
That is the proper source from which to expect to get
help towards them. Indeed we have seen that we
could not justify the thought of God doing anything
supernatural directly and primarily for the purpose of
assisting towards those objects.
But religion, — a felt sense of fellowship with God, —
is something which for us grows directly out of our be-
lief that God has done, and therefore may be expected
to do, personal acts to individuals. It could not be
produced in any other way.
And may we not surmise that the present tendency
92 THE SUPEENATUEAL
in some quarters to drop that feature of real fellowship
with God out of religion and make it solely and ex-
clusively a matter of character and social service, is a
logical and inevitable result from the denial or waning
belief in these supernatural acts recorded in the Bible.
This tendency, by the way, to so specially emphasize
the features of character and service, we need not con-
sider as something bad. No great movement that
God's evolution process brings about is ever wholly
bad. This tendency is to a large extent a distinctly
salutary one. It will have enormous good results in
the world. It has corrected a too mystical and selfish
attitude which had come to characterize Christian life,
and turned the direction of men's activities to the eth-
ical and sociological work which was always intended
to be their object.
But we need the heart and life as well as the activi-
ties. And the heart and life must consist in the re-
ligion of fellowship with God. That is something
which our fathers got by firm belief of these friend-
ship acts of God to men, and we may only get it again
by return to the same source.
It is not too much to say that the paramount value
of the whole Bible to us lies precisely in these parts and
these features of it which we call the Supernatural, be-
cause they are the actual exercise on GooVs part of that
fellowship with men vjhich is the essence of religion.
Silent Fellowship
"We may notice, however, that fellowship may be of
two kinds. It may be active and concrete, or it may
VALUE OF THE SUPEENATUEAL 93
be silent and passive. It may ordinarily consist of
conversations between two persons and various cour-
tesies and favours done by one to the other, but it may
consist in the mutual consciousness of being present
with one another, with nothing said or done. In that
case, however, there must be the memory of conver-
sations, favours or other personal acts and communi-
cations in the past, to make it real fellowship.
It is here that we find the great importance of the
miracles in the Bible as a contribution towards our
fellowship with God now. We may presume that the
greater part of our fellowship with God now will not
consist in spectacular or miraculous receiving of favours
and revelations, but will be of this last named, silent
kind, as when two persons are together in enjoyable
companionship without any actual conversation or com-
munications passing between them.
We know that God is present with us, and being so
the remembrance of these acts of personal favour and
fellowship to individuals recorded in the Bible enables
us to have the feeling of real fellowship with Him.
For though these acts were not done to us yet they
were done personally to individuals like ourselves, and
that enables us to have the feeling to some extent.
Now of course, on the other hand, it is true prob-
ably with most of us that this feeling of fellowship
with God is greatly roused by the memory of certain
conspicuous personal experiences of our own, as for in-
stance at our conversion, or at some great deliverance
or answer to prayer, when we have felt very vividly
that God was with us and giving us a favour.
94 THE SUPERNATURAL
But here also there is no question that these special
experiences of our own were really the result of the
Bible Supernatural, — that it was the influence of these
instances of personal touch by God to men recorded in
the Bible which, consciously or unconsciously, con-
tributed decisively to make it possible for us to have
these experiences and to realize and feel that they
were actually the work of God. We would never
have been able to do so without the influences of that
record, as we shall see presently.
Teaching Yalue of the Supernatural
This opens up to us the whole question of the teach-
ing value of these supernatural acts. This question we
can freely take up without embarrassment now that we
have found an independent purpose for their occurrence
which is quite in accord with reason and with all the
evolution movement.
If fellowship with God is an integral part of the
evolution process, and all the so-called supernatural
events in the Bible are merely acts of fellowship by
God to men, then these acts are all a normal and in-
tegral part of nature. They are inside of the evolu-
tion system when rightly considered, and there can
be no possible objection urged against them either
on scientific or philosophical grounds. Though some-
what rare and unusual they are just as normal and
legitimate a part of the evolution machinery as
magnetism, or earthquakes, or the first introduction
of life, or any other phase of the great panorama of
nature.
VALUE OF THE SUPEENATUEAL 95
If then they are a perfectly normal part of the
machinery of nature the way is freely open for us to
estimate their teaching value and ethical use. Such
an inquiry would be greatly embarrassed as long as we
felt compelled to consider them special interpositions
outside the evolution machinery. We would be obliged
to ask in every instance : — " Is it reasonable that God
should bring in this outside agency to secure this
benefit and teaching when it might possibly have been
produced by the agencies already provided in nature ? "
"Why, if He was infinitely competent, did He not
provide in the first constitution of things a means to
produce this good result as He did for so very many
others ? "
But now we are no longer confronted with that
question. For these agencies are just as integral and
legitimate a part of nature and the machinery of evo-
lution as any other agencies. And it is therefore just
as proper to look to them for desired results as it is to
look to any other source.
We will find that these things to which we give the
name Miracles or Supernatural events have a very dis-
tinct teaching and inspirational value to us. And the
value grows precisely out of their specialness or so-
called supernaturalness.
The whole genius of our religion and spiritual life
is of the same essential character as this which we
call the supernatural, and it needs the sight of these
concrete, visible events to make real and credible to
us much of our own inner, spiritual experience which
does not have visible, material verification.
96 THE SUPERNATURAL
An Illustration
We may illustrate by a concrete and typical incident.
A young preacher was recently appointed to a parish
some distance down the seacoast. He planned and
arranged to go there by a certain steamer. But some
way he was delayed by farewell meetings and leave-
takings so that he just missed the boat and it went off
without him. That night that boat was wrecked a
short distance down the coast, and nearly every one
on board was drowned. That young man has
always felt that being caused to miss that boat
was a special favour intentionally brought about by
God for him, and it has greatly increased and made
vivid his sense of nearness to God and fellowship with
Him.
Is it reasonable and correct that he should feel so ?
Those events all came about by natural and normal
causes. The storm, the rock, the farewell meetings
and lingering leave-takings were all perfectly normal
and natural things. Why should he think that God
had anything to do with them, even if they all did
converge to produce a situation that was to him a very
happy escape from death ?
Or, to look on the question from another view-
point : — Everything that occurs is ultimately the result
of God's work. It was equally the work of God that
when he walked by a mountain the cliffs adhered to-
gether by cohesion and did not fall and crush him, or
that the waters of the ocean were held in their bed by
gravitation and did not flow out and engulf him. But
in neither of those cases is there any remote suggestion
VALUE OF THE SUPERNATURAL 97
of any conscious intention on God's part directed per-
sonally towards his safety.
Though there was rather a peculiar situation and
grateful coincidence here, yet what rational grounds
could justify him in believing that there was here, any
more than in the other case, any conscious intention on
God's part directed towards his safety ?
We may answer that he could reasonably think so if
he knew that it was God's custom to thus consciously
care for individuals and intentionally arrange for fa-
vours to come to them personally. Or if he knew that
God did such things for persons who were trying to live
in fellowship with Him, and he was conscious of thus
trying to live in fellowship with God. In that case it
would be reasonable for him to believe that this was
an instance of that same kind of thing that he knew
had occurred in the past, and that it was, what it ap-
peared on its face to be, a case of God really doing a
personal favour to him.
Now these miracles of the Bible are all distinctly ar-
ranged to produce just that feeling and belief. In the
first place they are, as we shall see, practically all acts
of helpfulness to persons who were in some distinct
relation of fellowship with God. In the second place
they are so arranged as to conspicuously be seen to be
God's work. Their most prominent characteristic is
this specialness which marks them as God's personal
acts. They are either things out of the ordinary course
of nature or things specially predicted and promised
beforehand. This specialness impresses that they are
really acts of God's special intention, and they are thus
98 THE SUPERNATUKAL
vividly felt to be God doing personal favours to specific
individuals, and thus make us feel that that is a thing
that God may be expected to do.
The great benefit, then, which the miracles bring to
us in our present personal life, is to impress upon us
and make us feel vividly that God cares personally
for us as individuals and may be expected to do
things specifically and intentionally for personal fa-
vours to us.
We need not stop to ask the question whether possi-
bly men could not have learned this truth about God
in some other way, by a philosophical induction from
His perfection perhaps, or some other process. Whether
they could or could not have gained that knowledge
and feeling by some other process this is the process
that God intended should produce it. And as we have
seen that these miracles are just as integral a part of
the evolution machinery as anything else, it is just as
reasonable that He should plan that it be done by this
agency as by any other.
Historically it is a fact that that is the way in which
this feeling has been produced and ingrained in the
Christian consciousness. It has come about by a long-
heredity of vivid belief that God did these acts of per-
sonal kindness to individuals recounted in the Bible
and called supernatural. Even with those that doubt
or repudiate all these miracles this same feeling is
present in their hearts as an unconscious legacy from
this same source.
This is not a new doctrine. Such has always been
the feeling and belief of Christians, only we have not
VALUE OF THE SUPERNATURAL 99
always given it the frank recognition and prominence
in our systems of theology which it ought to have.
Special Providence
It will be proper at this point to consider a possible
wrong impression that may have been caused by the
frequently repeated assertion that God does not inter-
fere with the evolution process, — that He will never
do a supernatural act primarily for the sake of teaching
any truth, advancing any good cause, or making the
world or any individual better. We have said that all
these objects are the natural province of the evolution
process and were all provided for from the beginning
as God wished them to be provided for, so He will
never do anything special now primarily for the pur-
pose of furthering them.
Does this mean that there is no such thing as what
we call Providence ? — that we may never expect God
to do any present act now for our help ? Does it mean
that our conception of God's present sympathetic, per-
sonal care over us and provision for us is a mistake ?
Does it mean that we are left entirely to our own re-
sources in our efforts to succeed in life, and the thought
that we have a heavenly Father, who takes a friendly
interest in helping and directing us, is a delusion ?
Does it mean that the world is grinding away under
the sway of evolutional forces and natural law alone,
and however much those laws and forces may tend to
baffle, crush, and destroy us, God will look on indiffer-
ent, and do nothing to protect or help us ? Is our con-
ception that " God is making all things work together
100 THE SUPERNATURAL
for good to them that love him" (Rom. 8 : 28), and that
we need fear no evil while He is near us (Ps. 23 : 4),
merely a pious superstition ? Are we left in all things
absolutely to the results of the working of natural
law?
Not at all. We have said only that God will never
do a special or supernatural act for the jmrpose of mak-
ing the world better, or for the purpose of advancing
any of the work that natural law and evolution are en-
gaged on. That is the " Manufacturing Process." God
was competent enough to make machinery entirely ade-
quate to perfect the manufacturing, and does not need
nor intend to interfere to do any part of it by hand.
But that does not mean that He is never going to
come into any personal touch with the product after it
is manufactured and He takes it over for use. The use
that He intends to make of this manufactured product —
namely men— is to engage with them in the enjoyable
interplay of social fellowship and friendship. Any
kind of present personal activity by God or any help to
us that would come under that category may be freely
expected and looked for.
We have said that whatever special personal acts
God may do they are never done primarily for the pur-
pose of making the world wiser and better or effecting
anything that natural law was established to effect.
We were speaking specifically and solely of the primary
purpose of the acts, — not of the possibility of such
present personal acts, nor yet of their incidental results,
but only of the formal purpose for which they were
done. We have assumed that such personal acts are
VALUE OF THE SUPERNATURAL 101
done. The whole teaching of the Bible as well as the
universal instincts of men assert that there are such
acts, — that God does do personal acts and exert control
for the benefit of individuals.
What we are insisting on here is that the motive for
these acts is just a homely personal kindness to the
persons affected. God's motive in it all is not " The
Manufacturing Interests," — making the world better,
or teaching and training the race, but purely and simply
the desire to be kind and companionable to some one,
because it is a pleasure to Him to be kind and com-
panionable to persons. That is a purpose and motive
that, in our philosophy, we can justify. Any other we
could not.
From the view-point maintained here we are right in
feeling that God is personally controlling and directing
things in our interest. We are right in feeling that
with sympathetic interest in us He is constantly giving
us help in our business and in our lives, removing diffi-
culties and dangers, and effectively guiding us into
the most advantageous ways. Certainly He does
those things. And it is precisely the prime intention
of all the discussions thus far made to show that He
does do them, and that it is possible to do them with-
out in the least colliding with the integrity of natural
law and the evolution system.
Such personal care and help of God to the individual
is not only possible and reasonable. It is the character-
istic feature of this present era. This might indeed be
called the era of religion, — the era of fellowship be-
tween God and men.
102 THE SUPERNATUBAL
What we have been insisting on is that such personal
help and care is not an amateurish effort to piece out
an incomplete work, or an expedient to repair some
damage that has developed. It is an entirely reason-
able and integral part of God's one great plan, and
has the same standing in that respect as anything else
in evolution or natural law. For it is the very path
that evolution was designed and intended to take at
this stage of the progress.
Not Under Law but Grace
The declaration that "We are not under the Law
but under Grace " (Rom. 6:14) has really far wider
application than the mere matter of sin and punish-
ment. It applies to our whole standing and treatment
by God. It extends in a certain sense even to natural
law. Natural law is still in operation, and we are still
in contact with it, but we are not left under its un-
hindered dominance. We stand in such a personal,
companionable relation to the one who established and
is carrying on all this natural law that He will see that
our personal interests are personally and sympathetic-
ally cared for quite irrespective of what would have
ordinarily been the effects of natural law unhampered
upon us.
Not less but much more than under the old inter-
pretations may we feel God's personal care an actual
factor in all our experiences and enterprises. Such
care is not a special thing, an interposition, a side enter-
prise. It is just the appropriate condition of the stage
of evolution at which we have arrived. It is just as
VALUE OF THE SUPEENATUEAL 103
reasonable and natural for this stage as gravitation or
reproduction in the previous stages of the process.
God is our personal friend now, and wants to do and
will do for us everything that it is appropriate for a
friend to do. That is the dominant fact of this era.
It is something that takes precedence over all the
claims of natural law, and to which even natural law
must contribute. For He who is our friend is the
author and master of natural law itself.
The only thing that conditions all this is that we
really be in this relation of friends and companions of
God. It must be a mutual affair. Friendship and
fellowship must always be so. Only if we have defi-
nitely assumed that relation of friend and companion
does it apply to us, — only in the degree that we are in
whole-hearted friendship and fellowship with God. In
as far as we are in such fellowship we can believe that
it applies to us.
We can fully believe, then, that God is controlling
and shaping events with personal reference to our
individual happiness and well being (Eom. 8 : 28).
Whether He is doing it by special interpositions or
doing it inside of and by means of the course of nature
which He established in the beginning, is a question
which we do not need to discuss at all. From the
standpoint of the great evolution system one way
would be fully as reasonable and justifiable as the
other. He is doing it in just whichever way His
wisdom sees fit and convenient in each several case.
But He is doing it. And He is doing it not for the
advancement of the world or the success of some good
104 THE SUPEENATUEAL
cause, and not necessarily because of the intrinsic value
of the results secured in all cases. He is doing it solely
and specifically because He wants to do us kindness
and wants to make us feel and enjoy His companion-
ship. All such providences of God are entirely things
done as acts of fellowship between friend and friend.
VII
PKAYER
CLOSELY allied to the foregoing, we must
notice that the supernatural in the Bible has
a most necessary and intimate relation to all
our Prayer Life.
Prayer is one of the most fundamental offices of
religion. We may count it the most essential of them
all. Where there is prayer there is religion. Where
there is not prayer or something that is its equivalent,
there may be excellent ethical culture, sociological
effort and theological acumen, but there is no re-
ligion,— at least none in the sense in which we have
defined the term here of fellowship with God.
Prayer Implies the Supernatural
It would not be difficult to show that the reality of
our prayer life is dependent almost entirely upon a
feeling which we have derived, consciously or un-
consciously, from the miracles in the Bible. Prayer
to God would be meaningless without the belief and
the feeling that He takes a sympathetic interest in the
individual and definitely gives him personal and specific
help. Just to impress that very feeling is the one
great value of all the miracles to us and really those
miracles are the only known facts that definitely de-
105
106 THE SUPEENATUEAL
clare that God does give personal interest and help to
individuals.
In as far as any prayer consists of petitions or asking
for things it implicitly expresses a desire that God
would do something aside from what the ordinary
course of nature left to itself would effect. Every
such prayer is therefore really a request to God to
work a miracle. We may not expect or call for any
visible, physical miracle like healing the blind or turn-
ing water into wine, but a manipulation of purely
mental and spiritual forces by God for us would be
just as much an intrusion into natural law and as
truly working a miracle as multiplying the loaves or
stilling the tempest.
It is a naive kind of ignorance to overlook this fact,
yet we do overlook it, and we have a feeling that it
would be unscientific to imagine God doing a physical
miracle in these days but quite legitimate to imagine
Him doing almost anything in the mental sphere.
The mental sphere and the physical sphere are both
equally parts of nature, and equally governed by
natural law. For God to exert any influence whatever
in either sphere directly for the personal interests of
any petitioner would be just as much a supernatural
event and a miracle as any of those that are recorded
in the Bible.
Some people try to avoid this conclusion and still
retain a province for prayer by saying that God does
not give any concrete response but we get comfort and
benefit by the mere seeking for and contemplation of
His sympathy. But that can only be legitimate if
PRAYER 107
God does really give personal sympathy to us indi-
vidually. If He does not our belief is superstition. If
He does, there is no difference in principle between
that and His sending manna from heaven to feed us.
We must remember that mind is just as natural and
integral a part of this universe as matter is. The
states and interactions of mind are just as much the
subject of natural law as the activities of oxygen or
electricity. It would be just as much an irruption into
the natural working of the system He had made for
God to give spiritual encouragement and uplift to a
soul by His personal sympathy as it would be to still
the winds of Galilee or heal the leper by a touch.
Even those parts of our prayers that do not consist
of petitions but merely of thanks, confession or other
kinds of fellowship, almost equally require the feeling
that God takes a sympathetic interest in us personalty.
For us to approach God in any personal way implies
the belief that He may be expected to make an equally
personal response of some kind, or at least take per-
sonal, sympathetic notice of us individually.
[ Thus all our acts of worship of every kind in some
degree imply the belief of God doing something out-
side of what is included in what we call nature and
natural law.
As Christians we believe that this expectation is well
founded and that God will do such things. We be-
lieve that in answer to prayer He will give substantial
favours, not only sympathy and mental and moral
help, but actual physical help and favours as well.
We have gotten this feeling not from philosophy or
108 THE SUPEENATUEAL
reasoning but from the supernatural acts and super-
natural teaching contained in the Bible. One great
value of all the supernatural acts recorded there is
precisely to impart that idea and make it vivid and
real to us.
One of the great values, then, of all these miracles
recorded in the Bible is to let us see instances of God
doing things personally for the sake of some individual,
in order that we may get the vivid feeling that it is
plausible to expect Him to do such things for us, and
so our prayers may have reality in them to us.
Answers to Prayer
It ought not to be necessary to pause particularly to
consider the customary objection that all such answers
to prayer would be unreasonable, — that it would be
unreasonable for God to depart from the wise course
of events He had originally planned and follow some
other plan that we conceived and requested. Or that
it would be unreasonable for God to have resort to a
special act or miracle to bring some good to some one
whom He wished to favour, when in His wisdom He
could just as well have planned from the beginning
for that benefit to come to Him spontaneously and
naturally.
This objection quite mistakes the meaning and pur-
pose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is not to enable
certain privileged persons to get some special benefits,
nor to enable them to have the satisfaction of having
events transpire in accordance with their wisdom and
their wishes.
PEAYER 109
The meaning and the purpose of prayer is fellow-
ship with God. That is what prayer is. That is its
main and primary purpose. It is not a means to some-
thing else, but is itself the end and the desirable object,
and the benefits given in answer are a means to the
prayer. It is prayer itself as fellowship with God that
is the valuable tiling which God desired to produce,
and the promise of good things in answer to the prayers
is merely a means He employs to induce men to engage
in the exercise of prayer, that is to say to engage in
fellowship with Himself.
Since all prayer to be acceptable must contain the
provision : " If it be God's will," we might say that the
only things God may be expected to give in answer to
prayer are things that He considers to be desirable and
best, that is to say things that He might otherwise
have made part of the result that nature would produce
spontaneously, but in order to induce men to engage in
the fellowship of prayer He planned that those things
should be contingent on our making a specific request
for them. Keally both the prayer and the granting
the thing asked for were contemplated from the be-
ginning.
God from the beginning, in planning the course of
nature, we may conceive, arranged so that certain de-
sirable things should be held back and not produced
naturally, in order that He might bestow those things
personally and specially as a sort of bait to induce men
to come and enter into personal fellowship with Him
in the form of prayer. Prayer is not fundamentally a
means to acquire certain good gifts, but the prayer it-
110 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
self is the thing of chief value, and the good gifts are
the means to induce us to engage in it, and thus have
fellowship with God.
Now in order to have that effect we must really be-
lieve that God will give personal favours to us per-
sonally. And as we have seen, the great means to in-
spire that belief in us is the sight of these instances in
the Bible where God did give special personal favours
to individuals.
Thus we see that the supernatural in the Bible is of
supreme value to us in that it makes possible to us the
prayer spirit. It makes valid and reasonable the whole
institution of prayer, and thus enables us to whole-
heartedly engage in it, and in so doing we enter into
the blessedness of fellowship with God, which is the
very heart and essence of our religious life.
Intercessory Prayer
There is another very interesting question connected
with this subject of prayer. For we will find that even
the validity and reasonableness of certain kinds of
prayer is quite dependent upon considerations growing
out of this matter of our fellowship with God.
If our conception of the supernatural and of God's
personal attitude towards us is correct we would be
able to account for God's giving good gifts as personal
favours to us in response to our requests. But there
are certain forms of prayer that still present serious
difficulties, for instance, "Intercessory Prayer," and
such petitions as : — " Thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven." How can we reasonably petition and ask
PRAYER 111
for something that is not a personal benefit to ourselves
but merely is for the improvement of the world, for the
advancement of God's cause or for the help of some
one whom we pity,— but whom we know God pities
and wishes to help far more than we do ?
We are told, for instance, to make intercession in
prayer for the suffering and needy around us,— to pray
that God would give them the help that they need.
Why should we do so ? Does not God know of their
suffering and need ? Do we need to inform Him ?
We say we pray because we pity them and therefore
ask God to help them. But do we have to persuade
God to help them ? Does He not also pity them far
more than we do ? Will He not want to give them
the help without our urging Him to do so ? Are we
so much better and more sympathetic than God that
we have to be touched with sympathy first and then
arouse Him to sympathy and help ?
We are told to pray for some one in order to bring
down God's blessing upon him. Why ? Does not God
love him and want to bless him far more than we do ?
Why is it necessary for us to pray and urge God to do
something that He specially wants to do ?
Especially is this apparent when we pray for the
conversion of some friend, or pray that he may be kept
from going into sin. Does not God want him to be
converted and saved far more than we do ? Did not
Christ come from heaven and give His life that that
man might be saved ? If God can do anything more
to insure his being saved will He not surely do it ?
Why will He be any more apt to do it after we have
112 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
asked Him than before ? Why should He wait for us
to ask Him to do something to effect a result that from
the beginning He greatly desired and which He has
already shown the intensity of His desire for by the
very great work and suffering already gone through to
effect it ? If there is anything more He can do will
He not certainly do it without our asking, and if
there is nothing more He can do why should we ask
Him?
Or perhaps we can present the difficulty in another
way by asking :— How can we justify God holding
back and not doing certain good things which He
might do, and which would produce good results in ac-
cord with His purposes ?
For instance, our Christian teaching represents God
as desiring the salvation of men, planning for it and
going to infinite expense to make it possible. A little
special work of His Holy Spirit at a certain time would
accomplish the desired result with any given man and
bring him to salvation. But God declines to do that
little work, we are told, till some one prays and asks
Him to do it.
After having already done so infinitely much to ac-
complish the result He declines to do the one little
thing that will make it all effective until some man
prays and asks Him to do it, then He does it. In the
case of unnumbered thousands He does not do it at all
just because no one has asked Him specifically to do it,
and so all His great past work goes for naught.
Does not this tend to reduce the whole matter to
merely a sort of stage play ? Is not this whole con-
PRAYER 113
ception a mistake, and is not all such prayer unneces-
sary because God will, without our urging, do all that
He can do for the salvation of all men ?
One of the most common petitions in public prayer
is for the success of Missions and the conversion of the
world. But how can we reasonably justify a man
making such a request? That was the great object
on Christ's heart in coming into the world. God de-
sires that far more than we do. Is it not impertinence
for us to urge Him to do something for it ?
If we were personally engaged in that foreign mis-
sion work we perhaps might reasonably ask Him to
bless our own work and make it successful. But when
we ask for the whole work in all the world, with a
very large part of that work we have not even a re-
mote connection. How then can we without imperti-
nence make a request to God that He would work
faster in that work and more quickly finish it ? He is
interested in the hastening of it a hundred times more
than we are. He cares for the welfare of these perish-
ing people a hundred times more than we do. If there
is anything He can do to hasten their conversion and
salvation will He not certainly do it ? If He cannot
do anything more than He is doing why should we
keep asking Him to do more ?
Ouk Prayer Makes the Thing Possible
for God to Do
The logic of that reply is correct. "We must believe
that God cannot do any more for the salvation of the
world, or of any individual, than He is already doing.
114 THE SUPERNATURAL
To doubt that would be to doubt the " God so loved
the world."
We cannot ask Him to do anything more than He
is doing except on one certain condition. We cannot
ask Him to do anything more in the matter unless the
very fact of our ashing Him will make it possible for
Him to do something He could not otherwise do. That
is a startling proposition to make but it is a proposition
we cannot avoid if we candidly face all the facts we
are taught about God's love and relation to men. God
cannot do certain things without our prayer, and He
can do them after we have prayed for them. How
can this be possible ?
We sometimes use this form of words meaning it
merely in a hortatory sense. We mean merely that God
wants us to make the request and is voluntarily delay-
ing the gift or act until we do make it. But this must
mean very much more than that. For it must be that
He not only tentatively delays doing the things in
question but that He actually cannot do them.
Here during the past nineteen centuries more than
fifty generations of men have gone down to death
without certain help that we ask God now to give.
Loving them deeply, that He did not give them that
help at any time must surely have been because He
could not. He would have given it if He could. We
cannot think He delayed giving it and let them all
go down to death just to hold up a little inducement
to-day to our prayer spirit. That would make the
whole matter monstrous.
We must either believe that there is nothing more
PRAYER 115
possible for God to do for men's salvation, or for any-
good cause, and so our praying for it is vain and un-
reasonable, or we must believe that our praying for a
thing may make it possible for God to do something
that it was not possible for Him to do before. How
can such a thing be ?
We must turn to science for the solution of this
fundamental enigma of prayer.
Immutability of Natural Law
The one thing that science most insistently teaches
us is the immutability of natural law. Science asserts
this as an empirical induction, and philosophy and
theology put the same truth on the firm foundation of
God's infinite knowledge and competence. God knew
what the world would become when He created and
constituted all things, so He did it knowingly. If He
had wanted anything to be different He could and
would have made provision for it at that time. Hav-
ing made what He wanted to make He has no inclina-
tion or design to interfere to change any part of its
working. The great system of natural law is the
system God ordained for this world. It is His will
that that system should have unhindered right of way.
True this view leaves many problems difficult to
reconcile. There is evil in the world and suffering
and failure. There are many things we wish were
different and much we long to see improved. Still
perhaps if we had infinite wisdom we might be able
to see that the world, on the whole and in connection
with the interests of the whole universe, is really being
116 THE SUPERNATURAL
conducted in the best possible manner after all. Or
we might see that for God to interfere for the purpose
of changing His original plan or making anything work
differently from what the original plan would effect,
would be the cause of far more evil than the good pro-
duced.
But whether we can fully explain and justify it or
not, the fact remains. Natural law is of God and He
respects it. He ordained the world to be governed by
the system of natural law which He constituted for it,
and He will never discredit or repudiate that first ar-
rangement which He ordained.
We must accept, then, fully and absolutely this teach-
ing of both science and theology, that the laws of na-
ture are inviolable, — that God never will intrude or
interfere directly for the purpose of doing anything for
the bettering of the world, since that is the province of
those laws. And to say that He will not is the same
as saying He cannot. That motive and purpose can
never lead Him to do any present special and personal
or supernatural act.
This is the only tenable ground on which we can
stand with regard to God as the creator and governor
of the world. And it is precisely from that standpoint
that we first become able to understand the need and
the legitimacy of intercessory prayer. From that
standpoint it all becomes quite plain and logical.
From that standpoint we can see on the one hand
why it is that God does not do various things to insure
the improvement of certain people. He will not inter-
fere with the world that He has made. It is the set/
PEAYEE 117
tied determination of His will that nature, — the world
as He constituted it, — must run its course unhelped and
uninterfered with. God never will do anything special
for the purpose of making the world or any person bet-
ter. To do so would be just as contrary to His fixed
purpose as to arbitrarily change the orbit of a sun or
blot out a world and make it over again. We can
thus see that God cannot normally do any of these
things that we are asking Him to do in intercessory
prayer.
The question then to solve is : — How is it possible for
Him on the other hand to do them after we have
prayed for them if it was impossible for Him to do
them before ? The answer to this lies right along the
line of this one great topic which we have been dis-
cussing.
Doing a Thing Asked for Becomes a Matter
of Fellowship
We have seen that God does do special acts as acts
of fellowship. He will do special acts for the sake of
kindness or fellowship with some man, though He
never would do such acts for a merely utilitarian pur-
pose. Here is a project, let us suppose, that would re-
quire a special act of God. Merely for utilitarian
reasons He never would set aside natural law and do
that act. But some friend of God asks Him to do that
act as a favour to him because it will give him happi-
ness. It has now become a matter of personal favour
and fellowship between God and that man. So God
does that act as an act of favour and fellowship to that
118 THE SUPEENATUEAL
man. He does not do it to make the world better or
for any utilitarian benefit but solely to give pleasure
and show friendship to that man, His friend, even
though it does incidentally serve some utilitarian pur-
pose.
Fellowship with men is a motive for which God con-
siders it proper to do special acts. As we have seen,
that is one of the distinct designs of God, looked for-
ward to and prepared for by all nature and the evolu-
tion process. God might do from that motive acts
whose results or by-products would make the world
better, even though He never would have done those
acts merely to make the world better as their main
purpose. He could do acts if they were done as acts
of fellowship which He never would have done for any
other reason.
Answer to prayer is an act of fellowship, and there-
fore it is a motive for which God would consider it
proper and possible to do special acts. God might, for
the purpose of answering the prayers of persons that
were living in close fellowship with Him, do any act
He chose, because it would be an act of fellowship.
The act might make the world better or convert some
man, but yet it is not done primarily for that purpose.
It is done as an act of fellowship to the man who re-
quested it, to show kindness to him and make him feel
that God is his friend. That is its main purpose, and
the benefit to the world or to the other individual is
merely a by-product or secondary result.
Of course the only sense in which we could say that
God could not do any act would be the sense that there
PEAYEE 119
was no adequate motive for doing it. The motive to
make the world better would not be a legitimate one
that could apply at all. Doing a special act primarily
for that purpose is not in accordance with His will.
But if doing a certain act would become an act of fel-
lowship to some man then that would be a legitimate
motive to do that act, and God could do it where He
could not do it before. He might freely do from one
motive an act which He would not do from another
motive. The act acquires a different character. It be-
comes a different matter with quite different implica-
tions.
To make a very humble analogy : — A sick nurse on
duty must not for her own pleasure spend her time
playing games or driving in the park. But if it were
done for the benefit of her convalescing patient then it
would be quite proper for her to do it, even though she
herself also would get pleasure from it.
Just so the exigencies of the world's progress might
seem to call upon God to do certain things. But He
could not comply and do them for that purpose any
more than the nurse might play to amuse herself. It
would be contrary to established law to do so, — in both
cases alike. But suppose a man in close, loving fellow-
ship with God asks Him to do those same things as a
favour to him because it would give him pleasure.
The fact of this man having asked in that way makes
the doing of those things a matter of kindness and fel-
lowship with him. God therefore might freely do
those things for that purpose, even though it did bring
the result that the exigencies of the world's progress
120 THE SUPERNATURAL
called for and though He could not do them primarily
for the world's progress.
Yery possibly all the above may seem to some to be
merely a piece of speculation and casuistry. Still as
long as opponents insist on making these speculative
objections to prayer it is well to be able to meet them
and show that we are logical and sound. It is plain
that in this way we do have a complete and satisfactory
answer to this problem of intercessory prayer. We
can see how it is not merely a figure of speech but a
real fact that there are things which God cannot do
before we have prayed for them which He can do when
we have asked Him to do them, and our praying for
them actually enables Him to do them. Our praying
for a certain thing makes God's doing that thing
become a favour to us. It makes it become an act of
fellowship, for it is an answer to a request, and thus is
a purely fellowship act. God can do that thing as an
act of fellowship, though He could not have done it
otherwise.
Of course it is quite possible in fellowship to do
favours that have not been specifically asked for. Yet
they must be things that are specifically desired or
they are not favours and it is not fellowship. All our
desires should be lifted up to God in the form of
requests and petitions. That is God's design in the
whole institution of prayer, and we are explicitly
directed to do so (cf . Phil. 4 : 6, etc.). And so it is quite
logical if He should have it fixed that the favour
would not be granted till the request was actually
made.
PRAYER 121
Illustrations
We may illustrate the matter with some concrete
examples. A ship is in a great storm on the Mediter-
ranean Sea (Acts 27 : 14 ff.). In the ship are two hun-
dred and seventy-five men, paralyzed with fear and
looking for certain death. God knows their danger
and terror, and He pities them. He has also known of
countless other cases of terror and suffering both before
and since then, which He did not help. He has pitied
them and suffered in sympathy with all these sufferers,
but by the wise determination of His own will He has
made it impossible for Himself to in any way intervene
for their relief. He counts it necessary that nature
should freely run its course, and so He has had to leave
them all to the free operations of nature.
But there was one man in that ship, the Apostle Paul,
who had long been in a relation of intimate personal
fellowship with God. Paul, with the confidence of a
friend, was asking and looking to God for the safety of
his life, and also for the safety of all these others " that
journeyed with him."
This made the matter of saving the people in that
ship a matter of personal favour to Paul, God's friend.
It was now no longer a matter of interfering with
natural law to save some lives, but a matter of fellow-
ship with a friend, which is emphatically in accord
with natural law. And so God could and did do it.
He did it for Paul's sake, not for the sake of the two
hundred and seventy-five others. He did it to be
friendly to Paul, not primarily to save their lives,
though it did save their lives.
122 THE SUPERNATURAL
King Hezekiah was attacked in his capital city Jeru-
salem (2 Kings 18 : 13-19: 35) The mighty Assyrian
army was near at hand, both able and eager to destroy
the city and forever blot out the Jewish nation as it
already had the tribes of Israel to the north.
The nation of the Jews has played an important part
in the history of civilization, and their destruction at
this time might have delayed for centuries the progress
of the world. But we cannot conceive of God on that
account intervening to save the nation, and for that
reason. It would be violating natural law. To do
so would be to confess incompetency in His original
constitution of things, and to admit that He had not
been able to arrange for progress to go on spontane-
ously quite as fast as He would like to have it.
But there was another factor in the situation.
Hezekiah had been for a long while walking in spe-
cially loyal, trustful fellowship with God. It was
entirely in accord with both the great world plan and
God's will for God to carry on the fellowship with
Hezekiah by granting him favours that he asked.
Hezekiah asked for deliverance from this enemy, and
God granted it to him as & favour to him. Thereby the
nation of the Jews with its enormous value for the
world's betterment was preserved though that was only
a by-product.
Doubtless Hezekiah's motives were not altogether
selfish. He may have desired the deliverance not
altogether or chiefly for his own safety. He may
have loved his nation and desired to see it safe. He
may have foreseen how much his nation would con-
PRAYER 123
tribute to the progress of the world and have desired
that. These and other things may have entered into
the cause of his desire, but it was his desire, and God
granted it, not because of the benefit to the nation or
to the world, but because it was the request and desire
of Hezekiah, His friend.
That is the only reason that could justify God inter-
fering by such a personal interposition. For we are
assuming for the sake of the illustration that it was a
supernatural or personal interposition of God that
brought the deliverance in both these cases. He sent
the special deliverance solely because it was the request
and desire of His friend, and He could not have done it
otherwise.
Let us again suppose, for instance, that the vast and
venerable nation of China were in the throes of a great
agitation. Will it issue in disaster or in reformation
and advancement ? The question comes up of praying
to God to exert influence to avoid disaster and lead to
good results. If God were to specially exert some
influence upon the minds of certain men or do some
other special thing, the disaster would be averted and
good results ensue.
But without our prayer or any other consideration
to justify it, it would be unreasonable to suppose that
God would ever do a special act for that purpose. It
would be interfering with natural law. The great
nation of China was moving and would move just as
He in the beginning had provided that it should move.
To interfere by a special act now to improve something
or prevent some result that would have naturally en-
124 THE SUPEBNATUKAL
sued would be to declare His first provision inade-
quate.
But you have desired and prayed to God for the sal-
vation of China. Simply as an act of favour to you
He might legitimately do the thing that would turn
the tide towards China's uplift, just as He might do
any other thing you desired as an act of favour to you.
It would all be purely a personal matter of favour to you.
"Whether so great an act as that would not be quite
out of proportion to your importance and unseemly
as a favour to you, is another question. But if God
thought it a suitable favour to give to you it would be
entirely in accord with His established ways of work-
ing to do so.
As an act of fellowship and favour to you He might
comfort your mind, He might cure your sickness, He
might make your enterprises prosperous. All these
would be recognized as appropriate acts of favour to
be granted for fellowship's sake. And equally as a
favour to you, if you desired it and it would be a real
favour to you, He might bring influences to bear that
would result in the conversion of your friend, the
uplift of your community, the salvation of China, or
any other good thing whatsoever, — only provided it
was a thing you desired and the doing of it would be a
specific favour to you.
That He should do such things merely to make the
world better, because it was not getting better as fast
as He wished, would be unreasonable, and would stamp
His original creation act as inadequate. But that He
should do any kind of personal favours for fellowship's
PRAYER 125
sake is an entirely different thing. It is no reflection
on the adequacy of the original creation for Him to do
any kind of favours whatsoever as favours. This was
contemplated and provided for in that original creation
system, — indeed we might almost say it was one of the
main purposes of that creation.
Thus we see that prayer is a reality. It is a real
power. It is not merely a ceremony pleasing to God,
a spiritual exercise, a devotion. It is one of the real
powers and efficiencies of the universe, just as much so
as electricity or gravitation. It is something that has
power to bring about results that could not have come
about without it any more than planets could revolve
without gravitation or flowers bloom without sunlight.
It is in fact, as it has often been called, a lever that can
move the world, for it can enlist and open the way for
the infinite power of God.
Not the new, attenuated definition of Spiritual Calis-
thenics, but the old conception of "Wrestling with
God " is the definition of prayer that most nearly fills
the requirements of our modern science.
Laws of Peayer
If this is the meaning and the value of prayer we
can determine to some extent the laws that will govern
the answers to prayer. The whole matter must be
subject to the laws that apply to ordinary friendly fel-
lowship.
With one of the parties to the friendship so infinitely
great it may seem venturesome to compare it with our
ordinary friendships, and yet what God does is per-
126 THE SUPERNATURAL
feet, — perfect in its minuteness as well as in its com-
pleteness. If He deigns to grant friendship and fellow-
ship at all we may be sure it will be in no way less
companionable and sincere than the most perfect of our
human friendships and fellowships.
We are considering now only the granting of favours
for fellowship's sake. In the first place the prayer must
be a sincere expression of a real desire, or there is no
reason at all to expect the request to be granted and the
thing given. When friend talks with friend we often in
ordinary fellowship say a great many things merely for
form's sake, for politeness and because it is customary
to say or ask those things under the circumstances. If
the friend is accustomed to the ways of the world he
understands that perfectly, and pays no particular at-
tention to those requests, except to count them at their
true value as merely polite talk.
A pretty large part of the prayers of all Christians
can be blocked out entirely under that head. Doubt-
less God is not offended but possibly pleased to have us
be polite towards Him and say or ask things just to be
social. But we surely must concede Him as much dis-
crimination as our ordinary friends have.
We may fix, then, as the first rule, that the value of
any petition to bring an answering favour depends in
the first place on the strength of the real desire for that
specific thing. If you pray for the reformation of
China or the conversion of your friend, the only effi-
ciency in your petition will grow out of the amount of
real desire in your heart for those objects.
It will not be governed by the fervency or the ur-
PRAYER 127
gency with which you make the petition. It will not
be governed by the intrinsic goodness and desirableness
of the thing asked for. The only factor that will have
value will be the degree of desire you have for that
thing, — the degree in which its granting would be a
personal favour to you.
It may be that the reformation of China would be a
grand good thing and would bring benefit and happi-
ness to millions of people. But you have no right to
advise God to do it on that account. But if it will give
real pleasure to you personally, then, because God is
your friend you can frankly and confidingly ask Him
to bring it about, and just in the degree that it will
cause you personally real happiness He will be disposed
to do it in response to your request.
Of course we suppose it gives you pleasure because
of the pleasure and happiness it would give to these
millions of other people, and your heart goes out in
sympathy to them. But we need not go into that
phase of the question now. The point is that all the
value your prayer has in the case is the amount of
personal favour the result would be to you, for what-
ever God does in the matter in answer He is going to
do solely as a favour to you.
This seems an extremely strange statement to make,
but we have seen that there is no other ground on
which God could do such things without throwing dis-
credit on His original creation. He could only do
such things on the ground of friendship and fellowship
for some one.
The second rule is that God will act in the case in
128 THE SUPERNATURAL
the capacity of Friend, not of servant or agent or in-
strument or anything of that kind. When friend
makes a request of friend that friend is entirely free
as to whether he shall grant it or not, otherwise it is
not a matter of friendship but something else. But on
the other hand the whole force of his friendship will
impel him to do that thing as far as it is feasible.
And just in proportion to the strength of the friend-
ship between the two persons will the request be
likely to be granted, other things being equal.
So on the one hand it will be no reflection on the
validity of prayer if the requests are not granted in
any case or in any number of cases, even cases that
seem in the highest degree deserving. For the friend
must be entirely free if it is to be really an act of
friendship.
But on the other hand the whole force of the bond
of friendship between us and God will impel Him to
do the thing desired. And we may assume that the
more strong and intimate that bond of friendship be-
comes the more result there will be from our prayers.
The efficiency of our prayers will not be measured by
such things as our ability and earnestness in service or
even our holiness, except as they are an index of the
strength of our personal bond of friendship with God.
YIII
PUNISHMENT
WHAT about the severe and sterner parts of
the Bible ? There are many cases of threat-
ening, punishment and destruction recorded
there, especially in the Old Testament. If we claim
that the supernatural and all the movement of the
Bible is an enterprise by God to draw men into fellow-
ship with Himself by giving friendly, companionable
treatment to them, does not this contradict that claim ?
Fellowship should consist on His part in favours, friendly
companionship and conversation. Sending suffering,
punishment and destruction seems more like the office
of a stern judge and moral ruler. Is not that the atti-
tude in which God most characteristically stands, at
least in the Old Testament ?
Certainly that seems to be the popular impression
and men contrast the loving Saviour of the New Testa-
ment with the stern, just judge and sovereign ruler,
God, of the Old Testament. Even though they con-
sider it all the same God, and the representations con-
sistent, they consider that the New Testament is in-
tended to exhibit the loving, forgiving side of His nature,
and the specific province of the Old Testament was to
prepare us for this by first teaching us His inflexible
justice, wrath and punishment of sin.
129
130 THE SUPERNATURAL
But we are assuming here that religion is fellowship
with God, and that all God's movements of a personal
nature recorded in the Bible have that for their object,
namely, to win men into fellowship. The purpose to
give fellowship is the only motive that could justify
supernatural or personal acts and teaching. All the
supernatural acts and teaching of God in the Bible,
then, must be done as acts of fellowship.
Here seems to be a contradiction. How are we to
reconcile these two conceptions ? Or is that popular
conception really a mistaken one ? Is it possible that
we may find that after all the movement of God in the
Old Testament no less than in the New is a movement
entirely of favour, kindness and helpfulness, and all of
it such that it can be properly considered a contribution
of Divine Fellowship ?
Manufactuke and Use
In order to determine this question we must take a
somewhat broad and analytic view of God's various
kinds of activities.
We say that evolution and nature is all ultimately
God's activity. It is His activity as Creator. It is
His enterprise of making things. It is His great
manufactory in which He is manufacturing all things,
including man. This is God's process of manufac-
turing man. Now we shall see presently that all pun-
ishment belongs in and is part of this manufacturing
process.
But things are usually manufactured to be used.
God manufactured man to use him, and one main use
PUNISHMENT 131
was for the purpose of engaging in fellowship with
him. The manufacturing and the using are two dis-
tinct things. The manufacturing is ordinary nature.
The using is fellowship, and includes all the super-
natural of the Bible. It is religion.
It may be the same person that manufactures that
also uses. Also He may begin to use the thing before
the manufacturing process is entirely completed. But
yet the manufacturing and the using are clearly dis-
tinct things. We must consider them just as separate
as though it was a different person using the thing from
the person who was manufacturing it.
If we will keep this distinction clearly in mind the
whole matter will clear itself up. For we will find that
the great bulk of the punishments and judgments por-
trayed in the Old Testament are not things that are a
part of the fellowship movement at all. They are not
supernatural facts or supernatural acts. They are things
that came about in the natural way by natural law.
They are merely facts predicted or referred to in God's
conversations or messages, just as He might refer to
any other conspicuous and important things.
Eeally in these stern severe incidents the supernat-
ural feature is merely the fact of God giving the con-
versations and messages, — the fact of His speaking to
men about these things. That is distinctly a matter
of kindness and friendliness. That is an appropriate
method of fellowship, even though the things thus
supernaturally spoken of may be severe and painful
facts.
These severe and painful things spoken of are not
132 THE SUPERNATURAL
themselves parts of the fellowship. They are merely
the subjects of the conversation. In themselves they
are part of the manufacturing process. They belong
to that department of God's activity. For they are
things which when they do take place take place en-
tirely by the course of natural law.
In the few cases where a punishment did come by a
supernatural act we shall see that really some other
purpose was the main, fundamental motive of the act,
and the punishment was merely a means to effect that
purpose, or a result from it (cf . Chapter VIII, pp. 258 ff.).
Punishment All Belongs to Natueal Law
This manufacturing process, commonly called na-
ture or evolution, is strictly and essentially a reign of
law. Law is one of the most important features of its
apparatus. In the mechanical and chemical sphere the
law is compulsory and effectively produces the results.
In the sphere of life, which in its very essence implies
some degree of free will, law does not absolutely com-
pel, but visits some evil on the individual that does not
conform. This is equally true of all the various func-
tions of life, — the merely physical ones such as growth,
reproduction and action, also the mental ones such as
memory, reason, invention, as well as the sphere of
ethics, character and duty. In this last sphere we call
it punishment.
All this reign of law is part of the order of things
established and provided for in the first institution of
nature at creation. It is all provided for in the one
great manufacturing system that punishment or penalty
PUNISHMENT 133
must follow everything that is not according to the
law's standard. In all the greater part of the process
we can see that the penalty automatically follows the
collision with the law. We can see this in the physical
sphere, the natural mental sphere, and to some extent
we can see it in the ethical sphere also.
It is true that to a certain extent in the ethical
sphere it is not so apparent. We cannot so clearly see
that punishment there always automatically follows
breach of law. And yet we feel compelled to believe
that in some way it does do so, and that it must all be
as fully and as naturally provided for there as else-
where. The punishment in this sphere as in all the
others is intrinsically a part of the apparatus of the
manufacturing process, for its purpose is the elevation
and discipline of character. We feel that certainly not
some but all of that apparatus must have been provided
for along with everything else necessary, in instituting
the great evolution process. It is hard to believe that
there should have been some little minor inadequacy
that had to be personally provided for from time to
time.
In saying this we do not mean at all to imply that
the punishment of sin must necessarily and always be
an automatic result of the sin itself. It may or may not
be so. It may be a distinct volition and impulse of
God at the time for each person. But for all we
know gravitation or electricity may be so too, — a dis-
tinct volition and present impulse of God in every case
of activity. There are some theorists that claim that
it is. We know nothing whatever on that subject.
134 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
We must leave that phase entirely out of our consider-
ation.
What we must believe, however, is that God in the
beginning instituted a great manufacturing system
complete in every respect, with full and appropriate
provision so that suns should attract each other, elec-
tricity should flow, and sin should be followed by pun-
ishment. It was all equally and fully arranged and
provided for some way from the beginning as all one
unified system. It was the one fully endowed manu-
factory and this is all the process of manufacture.
If then this is the manufacturing process and all fully
provided for, we cannot conceive of God doing any
present supernatural act primarily for its sake. Just as
we cannot conceive of God doing a supernatural act
primarily for the purpose of teaching or improving the
world, so equally we cannot conceive of His doing a
supernatural act primarily for the purpose of punishing,
for that too is part of the manufacturing process which
He provided fully for by natural law. All punishment
must find its means within the evolution system, in nat-
ural law. Any supernatural act by God primarily for
the purpose of punishment would therefore be excluded.
If we should find any such acts in the Bible we must
frankly say we do not know any way to justify or ac-
count for them.
But is this so ? Is infliction of punishment, then, no
part of religion ? Is it true that supernatural acts in
the Bible were never performed for the sake of punish-
ment ? Doubtless this is quite the opposite of the pop-
ular conception on the subject. It seems to be a very
PUNISHMENT 135
common popular conception that punishment is one of
the most prominent and fundamental factors of the
Christian religion.
It must be admitted that it has been so used in the
past by Christian teachers. The doctrine of future
punishment has been much used as a compelling in-
centive to lead men to a religious life. Much of the re-
volt against religion in recent years has really grown
out of a revolt against this supposed feature of it. The
antagonism has been largely aroused by this doctrine
and its supposed implications.
In many minds there has seemed almost to be the
crude conception that God had specially organized all
this system of future punishment directly to force men
to accept a position of submission to Him, and to coerce
them into offering Him the worship which He desired
to receive. This was what the whole system of religion
seemed to be in their minds, and they rebelled against it.
In more educated circles the revolt took the form of
an entire denial of the reality of future punishment.
Unfortunately for this view it is contrary to the anal-
ogy of all nature. There is nothing in nature or evolu-
tion that gives any ground of hope for a future life of
glory and happiness for all men irrespective of charac-
ter and conduct. The whole lesson of evolution would
be that if such a destiny were to be experienced it could
only be for a selected special part of the race. And as
far as it would give any indication at all it would be
that the reprobation of the remainder would be final.
That is the analogy of all the rest of the evolution
process.
136 THE SUPEKNATUBAL
But to say that punishment and future reprobation
is a fact is far from saying that it is a factor of religion.
It is a fact of nature, just like fire or poison or storms
or death. And God's attitude in religion towards it is
precisely the same as towards any one of these others.
The fact that in the Bible, even in God's supernatural
messages, there is much said about it does not alter the
fact that it belongs distinctly to nature. In the super-
natural ministry of Jesus there was much connection
with disease, disaster and death, but that does not alter
the fact that disease, disaster and death belong wholly
to natural law.
The relation of God in religion and in the Bible
movement towards punishment is precisely the same as
that of Jesus towards disease. He warns against pun-
ishment that is impending and does much to ward it
off, but the punishment itself is entirely a matter of
natural law, and belongs wholly in the one great evo-
lution system of nature.
Punishment Only a By-Product in the
Supernatural
The infliction of punishment is no part of religion,
and God will never do a supernatural act primarily
for the infliction of punishment. But on the other
hand, this would not necessarily mean that God might
not do something for some other purpose which would
incidentally entail suffering or loss upon some man,
even in such a form that it might properly be rated as
punishment.
For instance He might wish to befriend His friend
PUNISHMENT 137
and deliver him from danger, and He could best do it
by destroying the enemy that was threatening him.
This would be primarily an act of friendship and there-
fore of fellowship, even though it did inflict great suf-
fering, and even though it inflicted the suffering on bad
men in such a way that it might be rated as punish-
ment for their sins. The act of friendliness was the
primary purpose in the case, and that would be an act
of fellowship.
In the second place, fellowship implies conversation
and commerce of ideas. We certainly expect that the
conversation of God will be something profitable. Thus
we are prepared for all kinds of profitable teaching and
communications, provided only the primary motive and
purpose is the fellowship,— is to do kindness and give
help thereby. This would cover all cases of warning
and threatening of punishment by the prophets and
others. It would account for by far the largest part of
all the references to punishment and severity in the
Book. And if all punishment is a part of natural law
it is just as much an act of kindness to warn of that as
to warn of fire, flood or any other great natural calam-
ity that might be impending.
Again, the most efficient way to give the warning
may be, not by words but by giving some example of
the calamity actually consummated or of the punish-
ment actually inflicted. This would open the way to
account for any instances in the Bible where a super-
natural punishment was inflicted on any one for a
warning, as, for instance, in the case of Uzzah (2 Sam.
6 : 7), or of ISTadab and Abihu (Lev. 10 : 1, 2). In these
138 THE SUPERNATURAL
the primary purpose was the warning to others and not
the punishment to these men.
Instances of this class, however, will be found to be
very few. In most cases where a punishment is held
up as a warning, the punishment itself is something
that comes by natural means, in the course of nature,
and it is only God's foretelling and warning about it
that is supernatural. Conspicuous examples of this
would be the Deluge (Gen. 7 and 8), a familiar geo-
logical phenomenon, and the destruction of Sodom by
a seismic eruption (Gen. 19 : 24-28). The only super-
natural parts were God's foretelling and His helping
His loyal friends to escape. Of the same character,
also, are all the many calamities and sufferings re-
corded to have come upon the nation of Israel and on
various individuals on account of their sins and in ac-
cordance with God's warnings. It is all natural pun-
ishment supernaturally foretold.
It will be found that the principles above stated
cover all the cases where punishment is associated with
the supernatural in the Bible. Either (1) the main pur-
pose of the act was kindness and help to some one, and
the suffering or punishment inflicted merely as a means
to that or a result from it, or (2) the punishment was
sent as a salutary warning, or (3) in far the greatest
number of cases the supernatural part is merely the
warning and foretelling of the punishment, and the
punishment itself is, like all ordinary punishments, en-
tirely produced by natural causes under natural law.
Thus in all these cases the supernatural part has en-
tirely for its object some kind of helpfulness and friend-
PUNISHMENT 139
liness to persons on whom God is thereby intending to
bestow friendship and fellowship. It is therefore an
appropriate method of God's bestowing fellowship
upon men. We are correct therefore in still claiming
that all God's supernatural acts were done for the pur-
pose of helpfulness, friendship and fellowship.
Punishment by God
But after all does not the Bible teach that it is God
who sends the punishment? — That God is the moral
governor and judge, and that He will punish sin?
Does it not teach that He will punish and destroy
wicked men ?
Certainly it does, and that is a very important part
of its teaching. It is a fact that God is the moral
governor and will punish sin, just as it is a fact that
God is the creator and has arranged so that every one
that goes into the fire will be burned, and every one
who falls from a high place will be bruised. These
are all equally and alike facts, but they all alike belong
in the sphere of nature, of evolution, of God's great
enterprise of making and perfecting the world. They
all alike belong in the " Manufacturing Department."
We are not at all implying here that law, judgment
and punishment are not facts, and like all other facts
the work of God the creator and moral governor.
They are extremely important facts, and facts that
bulk large in the communications or conversations that
God has with men. We may freely admit that a very
considerable part of the Bible is taken up with im-
pressing this fact that God as moral governor will
140 THE SUPERNATURAL
punish sin and destroy the wicked. That is a fact just
as true as that " He maketh his sun to rise on the evil
and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the
unjust." And it is a fact of essentially the same char-
acter and in the same department of His work.
But even though all these things are truly the work
of God, yet what we are insisting on here is that they
all belong to one certain department of His work, — the
manufacturing department, — and God has another
enterprise and another relation to men besides this
relation of manufacturer, ruler and judge. He has a
relation of fellowship and companionable intercourse
and all His supernatural acts belong to that relation.
It is this relation and enterprise exclusively that is the
purpose of the Bible record and that constitutes re-
ligion. All that He does of a personal or supernatural
character as recorded there was done in pursuance of
that enterprise and for fellowship's sake.
Whatever may have been the subjects of His con-
versations through the prophets, the conversations
themselves were carried on solely as a matter of help-
fulness, fellowship and friendly good will. And it is
the fact of these conversations being held, not the
things talked about, that is the thing that may prop-
erly be rated as supernatural, and that is the thing
that is a contribution to religion.
Punishment, therefore, does not ever figure as the
primary purpose of God in any supernatural act re-
corded in the Bible. All the supernatural acts in
which God personally does something to specific men
have definitely for their main purpose some kindness
PUNISHMENT 141
or benefit. We can therefore still feel confidence in
asserting that the whole Bible movement, Old Testa-
ment as well as New, — the whole religious propaganda,
— is a movement of fellowship designed to draw men
into a state of friendship and fellowship with God.
It may be that the subject of Punishment is more
frequently broached in the Old Testament and that the
New Testament moves mostly in a more benignant
atmosphere. For the New Testament is the Gospel of
the Kingdom of Heaven, and its theme is to portray
the ideal relations between God and men appropriate
to that higher life ; while the Old Testament has the
more homely task of letting us see God taking men as
they are and trying to enter into helpful relations with
them. But the heart of God is the same in both cases.
In spite of all the sin, stubbornness and desert of punish-
ment which that Old Testament finds among men God
still continues steadfast in His yearning kindness and
friendship towards them. That is the Gospel of the
Old Testament, and is it not a gospel that is still needed
by the world to-day ?
IX
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY
WHAT about the claim that all religions, in-
cluding Christianity, have had a natural
genesis in the ordinary evolution process,
and there is no difference between Christianity and the
others in that respect ? that it must be considered on
the same plane as all the other ethnic religions ?
We have seen that fellowship of men with God
seems to have been one of the great goals of the evolu-
tion progress, and so in that sense our Christianity as
well as everything of that nature in all religions has an
integral place in the evolution system, as has been al-
ready pointed out. But something more and different
from that is involved in this claim.
It is claimed that the origin and genesis of all re-
ligions, like that of all other mental disciplines, is
simply the mind of man reacting on the facts of ex-
perience and observation. The beliefs of religion are
merely the deductions or inferences that men have
gradually made from things observed and experienced,
and from aspirations spontaneously springing up in
their minds in perfectly normal, natural ways. It is
claimed that this is true of Christianity just the same
as of all the other ethnic religions.
It is claimed that our religious beliefs are the result,
142
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY 143
not of divine testimony and revelation, but of infer-
ences from immediate human experiences. "We find
much in the doctrines of other religions, both ethical
and theological, that is the same as or similar to things
in the Christian system. We do not consider that these
other religions got these doctrines by divine revelation,
but believe they got them by reasoning and inference
from the facts of human experience. If so, why should
not the same doctrines in the Christian faith have been
derived in the same way, in spite of the fact that they
are recorded among the things communicated by God
through prophets or in other ways ?
From this it is but a short step to the claim that not
only did these beliefs found in the other religions origi-
nate in the Christian religion in the same way that they
did in other religions, but everything else in the Chris-
tian religion also originated in the same way.
Ethics, Theology and Religion
In order to consider this problem intelligently we
must have accurate definitions to work with. There
are three separate things that are very commonly con-
fused and joined together under the one name Religion.
The first of these is Ethics or the discipline of char-
acter and conduct. The second is Theology, or phi-
losophy and knowledge about God. The third is this
to which we have here restricted the name of Religion,
and which consists of the practice of fellowship with
God.
It is the common custom to make the one word Re-
ligion cover all these meanings, and there is no harm,
144 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
perhaps, in doing so, provided we recognize clearly and
keep in mind that they are three quite separate things.
As to the first two of these we need make no demur.
It has been the assumption all through these discussions
that these first two departments, Ethics and Theology,
belong wholly to evolution, natural law and the efforts
of men's minds working on the facts of experience.
They are matters of knowledge, and knowledge is
something that should always be entirely supplied
from ordinary natural sources. We cannot believe
that God, having made such an enormously wide range
of knowledge spontaneously available to men through
nature, should have fallen just a little short of making
all available that was necessary, and that He had to
resort to special supernatural interposition to supply
the little remainder that was lacking.
The knowledge systematized as Ethics and Theology,
then, should be wholly knowledge derived from natural
sources. True, as we have seen, God might for inde-
pendent and appropriate reasons do personal, supernat-
ural acts now that would contain suggestions and
teaching as to His nature and will for man's conduct,
and this would be a source from which we would get
knowledge and ethical training also. He might for
fellowship's sake make actual communications and rev-
elations. But this does not contradict the claim that
all our knowledge should come from natural sources,
for all these fellowship acts must also be counted nat-
ural sources. They would be just as integral a part of
nature as any other of the more common observed facts
and laws since that fellowship is an integral part of
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY 145
the one original evolution scheme. It would be just as
legitimate and logical for knowledge in the line of
Ethics or Theology to be drawn from these sources as
from any other, and we could still say it was all de-
rived from natural sources.
Main Puepose of the Bible is Not to Reveal
Knowledge
It is indeed possible that knowledge from such special
communications may have contributed to any or all of
the ethnic religions as well as to Christianity. It is
the belief of their votaries that it did, and we have at
least no particular interest in combating their claims.
And yet it is remarkable what a surprisingly small
proportion of such knowledge, even in the Christian
system, was really derived originally from such super-
natural communications. It almost seems as though
God were intentionally honouring the great school of
normal knowledge which He had established by mak-
ing His revelations in such a way as to interfere as
little as possible with the habit of relying on ordinary
sources for all our knowledge. It is not the purpose
of the Bible to make new revelations of ethical truths
directly by God to man, and really very few compara-
tively are made there.
Unquestionably there is a large amount of both eth-
ical and theological truth in the Bible. Even in the
Old Testament we find very much of such truth given
in supernatural communications by the prophets and
others. Not only our theologies but our systems of
ethics as well draw largely from material found in the
146 THE SUPERNATURAL
Bible text, and the Bible has always properly been used
as the most effective handbook for such teaching. But
when we come to examine more definitely, how much
of it, especially in the Old Testament, will we find was
really new revelation of truths unknown until the time
when it was given? A surprisingly small amount of
it, at least of the ethical teaching, can justly be cred-
ited as of that nature.
Take the most conspicuous and noted instance of all,
the Ten Commandments, said to have been directly
given by God with an audible voice to the people
(Ex. 20 : 1-17). Unquestionably they are very impor-
tant and fundamental matters, but there is no new
revelation of ethical truth there at all. To kill, steal,
lie and covet, perjury, adultery, honour of parents, —
surely all of these were topics that were not new to
ethics then. Even the seventh day Sabbath was an
old institution. There is not a single ethical principle
enunciated there but what had long been known and ac-
knowledged, and most of them had been the very basis
and commonplace of the ethics of all the nations from
the very dawn of history.
When we turn to the theological side we find only a
less degree of the same fact. The belief in one supreme
God was not a new thing in the world then, nor the
thought of the impropriety of representing Him by
material images. Moreover from this side we can see
what really was the purpose and meaning of it all.
It was not a revelation of teaching but a Revelation
of God. In its very form it purports to be that, for it
begins with the ordinary, conventional formula of a
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY 147
formal introduction : — " I am the Lord thy God which
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, etc." (Ex. 20 : 2).
If we were to compare it to human movements it is
much like a man meeting another with whom he
wishes to get on friendly terms, introducing himself by
name and by other identifying circumstances, and then
proceeding to converse with him with appropriate
commonplaces of edifying conventional talk.
It was that personal touch with God that was the
important thing rather than the intrinsic value of the
things said. And His adding all the weight of His
personality to all these important and recognized moral
laws was the real ethical value of the incident.
And what was true of this was true of practically all
the rest of the ethical and theological revelation by
prophets and others in the Old Testament. For the
most part its essential purpose ethically was to put the
wreight of God's personality and all the pull of the bond
of affection between the people and Him on the side
of things known by them to be right and against doing
things known to be wrong. Not to reveal new rules,
principles or facts that were not known before, but to
get them to obey known truths was the purpose of
it all.
Setting aside the purely local matters of details of
government and religious ceremonial collaborated by
God with Moses and others, there are in the Old Testa-
ment really very few great ethical, or even theological,
principles of general application, revealed that had not
already been evolved and formulated by men long
before. So that the fact of these things being made
148 THE SUPEENATUEAL
the subject of revelation,— that is to say, used by God
as topics of conversation, — does not at all affect the
fact that their original genesis was reason and expe-
rience, and they were truths that had already been
worked out by men in the ordinary, normal, evolution-
ary way.
This same fact is illustrated from the other side in a
striking way when we turn to the New Testament.
In the sayings of Christ there are quite a few ethical
and theological teachings that with more justice can be
classed as new or real revelations. There is the com-
mand to love our enemies, the universal fatherhood
and real universal love of God, and a number of other
truths. These things have been written in our com-
pendiums and formally recited from the first, but for
centuries they had no place in the practical and actual
belief of the Christian world. And to some of them
we have not even yet fully attained. They have only
been able to gain the measure of acceptance they have
by the slow process of evolutional growth.
It is still further illustrated by the fact that even
the theological level that had been attained and upon
which Christianity took its rise was lost as soon as
Christianity spread and tried to carry its doctrines to
nations where those doctrines had not been naturally
evolved. "When the Christian religion came to be gen-
erally adopted by the Gentile nations where the evolu-
tion of doctrine was less advanced than in Judea, it
soon was changed into a practical polytheism, veiled
indeed by Christian names, with saints and apostles in
place of the minor gods, but none the less real poly-
GENESIS OP CHEISTIANITY 149
theism of much the same grade as that which obtained
in the localities before its advent.
It may seem unreasonable, but it is the historical
fact that all systems of truth must come by growth,
and cannot be delivered and assimilated ready made.
That is really the only way that beliefs can arise and
win acceptance at large.
If we apply this principle to the Bible and the older
phases of our religion, many of the difficulties will dis-
appear which have caused acute friction among mod-
ern religious scholars. We need have no compunc-
tions in recognizing that in spite of the large amount
of special divine revelation given, the old Jewish ethics
and theology developed just as naturally and under
the same evolution agencies as the ethics and theology
of any of the other nations. It could not have done
otherwise, according to what history has shown us is
the way truth spreads.
Genesis of Fellowship
But when we come to consider the third element,
and that which we have defined to be the real essence
of religion, fellowship with God, the problem is some-
what different. That is not something merely learned,
but something done. And it is essentially a mutual
thing. To be real and genuine there must be contri-
bution from both sides, — something done by God just
as necessarily as something done by men.
When we consider the matter from God's side and
His bestowing fellowship or personal friendship it is
evident that differences might arise which would make
150 THE SUPEBNATUKAL
one religious cult so far superior to all others as to be
the only one to be considered. Indeed we must
normally expect that there would be such radical
difference. Personal friendship is always an exclusive
matter. In its very essence it consists in giving to a
certain individual a personal consideration and interest
which is exclusively for him in distinction from all
others. If we use the word " Friendship " in connection
with God at all we should give it its proper, essential
meaning. Personal friendship and benevolence are
two distinct things, quite different both in nature and
origin.
Benevolence may be wide or universal in its scope,
but friendship, on the contrary, the deeper it is the
more it tends to limit its circle. Moreover though a
man may have many friends yet the friendship with
each one of them is just as separate and distinct as
though he were the only one to whom he was giving
friendship. So a high state of friendship with one
man does not at all imply an equal state or any state
of friendship with some other man, or indeed with any
other man. It would not contradict the law of friend-
ship at all, then, if there were a radically different
state of friendship by God with the Jewish race than
with any other race. He has benevolent love for all,
but a high state of personal friendship there would not
logically imply a similar state nor indeed any friend-
ship at all with any of the other nations.
We need not stop here to define the causes that
might lead God to bestow special friendship on this
one race. They may be definable or they may be causes
GENESIS OF CHEISTIANITY 151
wholly in God's own mind of which we have no means
of knowing. The causes and beginnings of our own
friendships are often very obscure. But if He did thus
single out one race for special, personal friendship and
allow the fellowship there to grow and develop into
something radically higher and different from any-
thing in any of the other nations He was only following
the natural laws of friendship as we always see it in
human relations.
If religion is merely ethics developed under God's
benevolence with nothing more, it might indeed be
hard to see why there should not be at least some
degree of parity among all the religions. But if, as
Christ declared (John 15 : 15), and as we are maintain-
ing here, religion is a state of personal friendship and
fellowship with God, some one preeminent bestowal of
that fellowship, and so some one unique and preemi-
nent religion is just what the laws of friendship would
lead us normally to expect.
Our Christian tradition claims that there was such a
special regime, namely, the personal friendship and
fellowship bestowed by God on this one Jewish race.
And while not denying the possibility of some acts or
some degree of fellowship bestowed elsewhere, it claims
that the personal fellowship bestowed here was some-
thing radically different from and higher than that
bestowed anywhere else. And still more, and most
significant of all, it claims that this regime culminated
in a great act wherein God Himself became man in the
person of Jesus Christ, and associated on equal terms
with other men, thus bestowing the fullest degree of
152 THE SUPEKKATUKAL
fellowship possible. That was the culmination of this
one regime of fellowship, and certainly that constitutes
the line with which it is connected something im-
measurably higher than any other and altogether in a
class by itself.
Evolution Specializes
Or if, on the other hand, we take up from man's side
the matter of man achieving such a fellowship, even
from that side it would not be unplausible to suppose
that some one race might come to engage in a special
measure of fellowship with God so much higher than
that of any other as to be quite in a class by itself.
Here also the laws of evolution give us no ground to
assert that all religions must be equal. Because the
Christian religion rose from the same origin and was
naturally evolved the same as all the others is no
reason to demand that no radical difference can be
claimed between it and the other ethnic religions.
True this fellowship which is its essence is a living
something which must follow the laws of all biological
evolution. But in evolution the same genesis and the
same method of development do not at all imply
equality in the resulting products.
All biological evolution proceeds by the same
methods and from the same origin. And yet one prod-
uct of it, man, is so incomparably much higher than
all the rest as to be wholly in a class by himself, and
practically the only significant result of the process.
It need not then be thought strange if the evolution of
religion has produced a similar unique result, and per-
haps in a somewhat similar way.
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY 153
For instance it is supposed by many that when the
line of descent from which man came had reached a
certain critical stage, perhaps by achieving articulate
speech or some other faculty, a number of causes con-
verged to both improve its character and to accelerate
its rate of progress so that by a sort of " geometrical
progression" it soon far outdistanced all others and
became the only line to be considered.
We can easily conceive that the development of
religion in some certain race might in the same way
reach a critical stage when its progress would go for-
ward in accelerating "geometrical progression" and
soon far outstrip all others.
It is natural that it should do so, if religion is
personal fellowship. Personal friendships always grow
that way. Something starts a little special friendly
interest between two persons, and immediately that
friendly feeling, in the first place, tends to draw them
more into each other's company with more opportunity
for friendship to grow, and in the second place the
friendly acts of each one stimulate greater friendly acts
and feelings in the other, back and forth, at an increas-
ing rate, till in a few days the friendship is advanced
farther there than elsewhere by years of acquaintance.
Let us suppose that some body of people, as for
instance the ancestors of the Jewish race, in some way,
perhaps through more correct conceptions of God's
character or through some free initial kindness of God,
got into a slightly higher state of friendly, confiding
responsiveness towards God than the rest of the world.
The difference though slight may have been critical
154 THE SUPEBNATUKAL
and both the principles above referred to would im-
mediately operate to increase it. In the first place this
new relation would naturally cause more frequent
occasions for the bestowal of fellowship by God. And
in the second place the favours on His side and the
confiding trust on theirs would more and more stimu-
late each the other to more and more such trust and
favours, on and on with increasing intensity on both
sides. It need not be long till the bond of fellowship
there would be so far beyond that elsewhere as to be
the only one to be considered.
"Whether this alone was the process, or whether, as is
probable, a number of causes and processes may have
converged to contribute, certainly it would be but fol-
lowing the ordinary law for such a friendship once
begun to grow special and exclusive. It is the nature
of friendship thus always to specialize out certain per-
sons for preeminent intimacy, and it is the law for a
special relation once formed to strengthen and intensify.
And so the friendly relation of God with this race and
His acts of friendly intercourse with them would
naturally become radically different from that towards
any other race.
God a Typical Friend
Now if this be in some degree the right interpreta-
tion of the Old Testament history it would indicate
that God but did what every man naturally and
spontaneously does in forming his friendships. It
would mean that God by the usual and natural process
had developed and engaged in a relation of special
GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY 155
friendship. It would mean that God's friendships are
of the same kind and arise and grow in the same way
that our friendships do. It would mean that this friend-
ship and fellowship with God which is the essence of that
precious thing we call our religion is not some mys-
terious, transcendental thing, some formal ecclesiastical
bond, but something that acts in the same way and is
in the fullest sense all that the cordial, homely friend-
ship of our other friends is, and it would mean that
God may be expected to act towards us in the same
way that any other true friend would.
That this is really the value of the Old Testament
movement is not at all contradicted by the fact that in
the Bible narrative the later the era the stronger are
the denunciations of sin and apostasy. That is precisely
the effect we should look for. It is just the natural
result to expect as the bond of friendship becomes
closer with the nation and its demands on the individ-
ual correspondingly more exacting. We must bear in
mind also that it is not the whole nation but only the
faithful portion of it, be they many or few, that God
looks upon as the people with whom He is having the
fellowship (cf . Kom. 9 : 6, etc.). In the end, though
the Jews of Christ's time had many fatal faults and
had the misfortune to be under the control of vicious
ecclesiastical leaders, yet they were conspicuous in this
one element of whole-souled and unswerving loyalty to
Jehovah. It was because there was thus such a high
level from which the mission could take its departure
that Christ was able to send His religion out into the
world with efficiency. And we may notice that when
156 THE SUPEENATUEAL
after Constantine it suddenly spread widely and became
submerged in the common life of the general world it
took over a thousand years for that religion to again
get back and attain anew that same level of purity and
loyalty which it had already attained among the Jews.
It would be ignoring the most evident lesson of
evolution, then, to say that because Christianity has
had the same genesis as the other religions, and all
have developed by the same method of growth, there-
fore we cannot claim any critical superiority for it
over any of the others. The lesson of evolution would
lead us to expect quite the opposite result. The lesson
of evolution is that though there may be many advanc-
ing lines there is one only that has reached the top, and
so only one that has real significance.
If religion be fellowship it is evident that the ordinary
working of the laws of evolution upon it, instead of
making all religions of the same value, would inevitably
tend to specialize on the one most suitable race, and
make the relation of fellowship there, — that is to say,
make their religion, — radically higher than that in any
other race, make it as much different from the others
as man is from the lower animals, — as close friendship
is from mere conventional acquaintance among men.
Among religions, as among animal species, though
there may be many that have had the same genesis
and the same method of development, and though
many may have made vast development in various
directions, yet after all we may logically expect that
there will be but one that will have permanent
significance and ultimate value.
PART II
The Old Testament
PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE
BEFORE we take up any detailed study of the
Old Testament and the rest of the Bible it will
be very important to get a clear and correct
conception of just what the Book purports to be.
Let us take a parallel case. Here is a book that
bears the title, " Algebka." It looks externally not
unlike other books. Bat when we begin to read it we
find, along with ordinary text, something entirely un-
explainable from the standpoint of good literature.
We find letters combined in such a way as to make no
words with any sense at all. Moreover we find other
characters used that are not letters at all and are never
found in ordinary literature. We may find such
anomalous combinations for instance as :
a2 + 4ai/x2 — y2 = (m + n)(m— n)
and others far more strange.
If we tried to interpret the book as merely a book
of ordinary literature, — philosophy, logic or something
of that kind, — we might define such combinations of
marks and letters as " supernatural." They are some-
thing entirely outside of all the natural laws of good
literature, and contain features that are not found in
literature at all. We might say that either it was a
blunder of the typesetter, or some later hand had med-
159
160 THE SUPEBNATUKAL
died with the forms and mixed up the type. Such
mixed up and strange combinations of letters are not
only meaningless and valueless but are a blot upon an
otherwise logical and edifying treatise. Just so men
say all these things of the supernatural accounts that
are found in the Bible narrative.
We know, however, that this book is not a book of
history, logic or anything of that kind but is an Alge-
bra, and that such combinations of letters and special
characters are always found in Algebras. Indeed in
an algebra that sort of combination of letters and alge-
braic symbols is the important and essential part, and
all the common, ordinary letter press is merely aux-
iliary and explanatory. What if we should find that
in the Bible too this was true, — that the supernatural
incidents and supernatural features were really the es-
sential and the important part, and all the history,
poetry, teaching and all the rest, were merely the
setting and the background.
A BlOGEAPHY
What is the Bible? What is the Old Testament?
Is it merely the religious history of a race which had
peculiar genius for religion ? If so it is an historical work
of extreme interest, well worth a place beside the best
works of Herodotus or Strabo. But if that is its nature,
to look to it now as in any sense a moral guide or
standard would be absurd. The embellishment of such
a book with strange and spectacular supernatural ac-
counts would give us no trouble indeed, for that is just
what we expect to find in such old books. But we
PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE 161
would get rid of the burden of the supernatural by
giving up the whole traditional religious value of the
Book.
Is it an illustrated handbook of moral and religious
teaching ? The prophets were stern, holy men, preach-
ers of righteousness. The histories hold up to us the
inspiring examples of such heroes and saints as David,
Samuel, Moses, Abraham and a brilliant array of other
greater and lesser lights. But there is not one of these
men but in the very brief account of his life there are
things that would be condemned by even the blunted
conscience of modern popular thought. Surely the
enormous influence for good which the Bible has ex-
erted cannot be accounted for on that basis.
But according to the assumption which we are follow-
ing here the Bible is neither one of these. "We shall
find that it is a history indeed, but it is not a history of
the Jewish race. It contains much moral instruction
indeed, but it is not a handbook of moral rules and
models. It is a book with a hero indeed, but the hero
is not David, or Moses or any other of the list.
The Book has one hero and only one. The hero of
the Book is God. The history is a history of God. It
is a narrative of His acts and enterprises. It may ap-
propriately be called a book of the biography of God.
It is a history of one of His important enterprises in
this world.
It is a history of religion, but not of how men learned
and discovered a high standard of religious truth. Ke-
ligion is not something that is made or learned but
something done. It is a mutual social relation. It is
162 THE SUPERNATURAL
fellowship between God and men, and the Bible is the
account of God doing on His part the acts of fellowship
which were to inspire in men a responsive feeling of
trust and fellowship. It is the history of God's great
enterprise of religious propaganda, by which He was
to establish, and eventually spread throughout the
world, the true religion, which consists of enlightened
and sincere fellowship with God.
Nature of a Biography
The biography of a man is not made up entirely of
accounts of things he did. It must give the setting
of those acts. A complete biography of Bismarck, for
instance, would bring in the history of the whole Ger-
man Empire and of half the other countries of Europe.
But still it would be strictly a biography of Bismarck.
Just so, this biography of God brings in the history of
the whole Israelite nation and of many men and events
in other nations, and yet it is strictly a biography of
God, and is to be estimated and interpreted on that
basis.
It is not a biography of God in all His activities, but
just in this one enterprise of inaugurating among men
a condition of religious fellowship with Himself. It is
a history of His religious propaganda. It will only
bring in outside facts as they are related to that enter-
prise. It will not primarily show God in His general,
universal activities in nature, but in His personal,
friendly dealings with individuals and specific groups
of men.
But such personal dealings of God with individuals
PUKPOSE OF THE BIBLE 163
are just what constitute the supernatural. As we have
seen, it is precisely the accounts of such things in the
Bible which are called by that name. This supernatu-
ral part, therefore, must be the main thing, and the
heart of the whole.
Instead of considering the supernatural a burden,
something we feel called upon to justify and would be
glad if we could get rid of entirely, it is the real, cen-
tral meaning of the whole Book, and all the rest is
merely auxiliary to it. Instead of considering it a
questionable embellishment of the message, it is the
message itself.
We may notice, by the way, that this is really the
traditional feeling and the estimate the devout Chris-
tian consciousness has always had, and which it was
trying to express by calling the Book a Revelation, and
" The Word of God."
II
ISEAEL
THEKE is one problem which lies right across
the path of our study, and that is the ques-
tion why one single nation, the nation of
Israel, should be presented as the sole recipients of God's
favours. It is the representation all through the Bible
that the Israelites were a people that stood in a special
relation to God, that God looked upon them in a pe-
culiar light, granted special privileges to them and
special religious teaching. Indeed that practically all
of God's supernatural discipline and religious propa-
ganda for the world was given in this one nation.
This is too obvious and prominent all through the
Book and too fundamental to the whole meaning of the
enterprises recounted to require any detailed references.
The Book has even been familiarly called " The his-
tory of God's chosen people " or some term of that
nature.
But any such specialness of any one nation or
people before God seems entirely contrary to our
modern conception of God and of His universal love
for all the world. How can we possibly account for
His giving, not merely once or twice but continuously
all through their history, such special favours to one
nation which He did not give to any other, and count-
164
ISEAEL 165
ing them in a peculiar relation to Himself which no
other nation had ?
This whole idea has been confidently challenged as
merely a mistaken conceit of the Israelite historians.
They imagined that Jehovah was specially favourable
to Israel, just as other nations imagined that some
other god who was their patron deity was specially
favourable to them. It is claimed that the whole idea
of any specialness or special relation to God must be
denied, apart from the special genius for religion which
seemed to be their racial characteristic. Everything in
the Book that is based on or grows out of that idea of
a specialness must be rejected, even though that does
necessitate an entire recasting of our estimate of the
Book and of its place in religion.
We could hardly deny the justice of this conclusion
if religion is merely a species of moral culture, or if it
is merely a means to enable men to get into heaven, or
indeed a means to anything else for that matter.
If religion is merely a process of men striving up-
ward into the light we might admit that the Jewish
race had more genius and ability in that direction, and
so made more advance than the other nations, but not
so much as to make them the sole and only ones to be
considered.
If religion is merely a matter of knowledge of God, of
His will and of the way to escape punishment and get
into heaven, it seems strange that God should closely
confine the bestowal of that knowledge to one little
obscure people, and not in some degree at least make a
bestowal of it on all the rest of the world.
166 THE SUPERNATURAL
But it puts the whole matter in a different light en-
tirely when we come to consider that this whole Bible
movement is not any of those things but something
quite essentially different. It is not something done
for teaching or training or any other ulterior object.
It is simply a course of personal fellowship engaged in
by God for fellowship's sake. It is God seeking to
make certain men His friends and companions, just as
we approach certain persons with friendly advances be-
cause we wish to give them our friendship, to make
them our friends and to get their friendship and com-
panionship to enjoy.
The whole movement to which we now give the
name of Religion is a movement by which God is in-
augurating a state of friendly fellowship between men
and Himself, — something that He contemplated and
looked forward to from the very beginning, and which
in one sense the whole evolution process was a means
to make possible and to provide subjects for.
The evolution process, — the great manufacturing
enterprise, — has at last produced a product suitable, —
a race of beings of high enough capacity to be capable
of affording that social fellowship which God desired.
God now proceeds to begin it. The whole Bible super-
natural story is the account of some of God's move-
ments to that end. We must judge it entirely from
that standpoint. Our only criterion in judging it must
be to consider what is customary with men in seeking
to inaugurate and carry on friendship and fellowship
with other men. "We must consider it normal that
God should proceed in substantially the same way that
ISRAEL 167
men would for a similar purpose. On larger lines,
perhaps, and with appropriate variation of details, but
yet in essentially the same way.
Specialness a Necessity
How then will God begin to enter into this personal,
companionable fellowship with men, and win them to
reciprocate it ? Not by teaching and training. That
is not the way we make our friends. Not even by
goodness and general benevolence. That would not
effect it. It must be by bestowing personal friendship
itself. Benevolence is an entirely different thing that
is often confused with this, but from which it must be
carefully distinguished. A man's goodness or benevo-
lence is an entirely different thing from his personal
friendship. It is a state of mutual personal friendship
which we consider is now to be inaugurated. God's
goodness and benevolence had been in exercise from
the beginning.
Benevolence is normally something broad. We ex-
pect it to include as large a number as possible in its
bounty. The nature of friendship is just the opposite
of this. Its strongest expression is the most exclusive.
In all cases it must be with definite individuals. Its
restriction to the specific individual is what constitutes
it friendship and fellowship instead of merely benevo-
lence.
A man may, indeed, have many friends, but his atti-
tude towards each one of them must be as separate and
personal as though he were the only one so treated.
The very essence of friendship and fellowship consists
168 THE SUPERNATURAL
in making the individual feel that you are giving him
a consideration that is special to him in distinction
from all others.
This being so, it is plain that this religious propa-
ganda, since it is entirely a fellowship matter, could not
be general to all the world but must be restricted and
personal in order to be really friendship and fellow-
ship.
Of course when considering the relations and acts of
God the term Individual may be expanded to include a
restricted group so unified as to feel like a unit or indi-
vidual in relation to the rest of the world. This would
be especially true in ancient times when the nation was
more largely than now the real, practical unit in all
things. A family or small nation conceiving itself to
be descended from one ancestor might especially be so
considered.
For various and obvious reasons God's fellowship
dealings might be expected to be with such larger units
or groups quite as much as with the single person. But
it could not be general to the world at large. There
must be this restriction to the individual or individual-
istic group in order to constitute it fellowship and make
it have the effect of personal friendship on the feelings
of the recipient.
If God then is to do this which is the goal of all the
evolution process, — is to enter into the exercise and en-
joyment of fellowship with men, — He can only do it
by making the advances of fellowship not to the world
at large but to specific individuals or to some restricted
group of this character, — to some group so unified as
ISEAEL 169
to have the feeling of individual or family solidarity,
and it just happened that the people of Israel was the
one He chose to use.
Friendship of God
We need, then, have no difficulty in seeing why God
should have treated the Jewish nation in such a differ-
ent way from any other nation, and made practically
all His great supernatural manifestations to them. We
can see that that is the only way that He could reason-
ably do such acts at all. It might have been this na-
tion, Israel, or it might have been some other nation,
but it must be some one nation singled out to give the
distinctive special treatment to or it would not be fel-
lowship at all.
Moreover friendship is not something to be given one
day and taken back the next. It is not this nation to-
day and some other nation to-morrow. Having once
given His personal friendship to this nation of the Jews
He remained constant in that friendship bond during
all that nation's life. If it taught us nothing more the
Bible history of Israel might teach us a valuable lesson
in the sacredness of the pledge of friendship.
We have already noted how a relation of special
friendship once formed spontaneously tends by its very
nature to grow stronger and stronger. And as we
shall find later, the whole course of the history follows
exactly the lines which we recognize as the accepted
code of friendship as it is recognized in human rela-
tions. At least it was so on God's side.
It began with a very congenial friendship between
170 THE SUPERNATURAL
God and one man, Abraham (cf. Isa. 41 : 8, etc.). In
the course of their friendly companionship God gave
the promise that He would continue a similar relation
of personal friendship to Abraham's children and de-
scendants (Gen. 17 : 7, etc.). That relation thus pledged
God kept with scrupulous honour.
Because He stood in this relation of pledged friend-
ship with this nation of Abraham's descendants, God
did as acts of fellowship with them the long series of
supernatural acts, — acts which could not have been
justified on any other ground, but which were the nat-
ural and appropriate way for God to give personal
friendship and fellowship to persons whom He chose
to regard in that relation.
This fact, then, of the special relation in which God
is represented as standing to the nation of Israel does
not imply that the nation or the people were in any
respect essentially different from the other nations and
people of that age. It does not necessarily imply even
that they were morally any better or any higher in
their theological conceptions. It only means that if
God were to begin to bestow personal fellowship He
must have some specific people to bestow it on, and
this was the specific people.
If His friendship was to have the satisfying genuine-
ness that makes human friendships so precious, it must
be constant and it must be personal and definite. God
could only begin that regime of fellowship, — that great
consummation for which all the evolution process had
been preparing, — by selecting some specific people to
begin the fellowship with, and these were the people
ISEAEL 171
so selected. It might have been some other nation,
but it must be some specific nation, and this was the
specific one. This was the natural way and the only
feasible way in which God could inaugurate His great
religious propaganda of Fellowship with Men.
This representation of God standing in a special
relation to this one nation of Israel is not a mistake.
It is not a mere conceit of the national historian, a
natural but groundless imagination. It was a fact, and
a fact with most important meaning. It was, as it has
always traditionally been considered to be, a funda-
mental feature conditioning all the enterprise which the
Bible records. It was simply the best and the normal
way to effect the object God had in view, namely, to
make men feel that He could be a sympathetic friend
to them individually.
Ill
ABKAHAM
THE supernatural in the Old Testament might
be divided into three general divisions :
First, there are the Miracles, the specific
acts and incidents to which we commonly apply the
term Supernatural.
Second we may put Prophecy, including the contin-
uous order of prophets spoken of, and the recorded
writings of some of them given in the Book.
The third division would include all the historical
and narrative parts. These are classed as supernatural
on the ground that all through they aim to exhibit God
behind the natural events, and the events themselves
are chiefly significant as illustrating God's directive in-
fluence in human affairs.
Of course this is assuming the substantial correctness
of the narratives, which some challenge. But we are
here making our interpretation of the Bible confessedly
at its face value and with the traditional estimate, to
see if on that basis it can be justified. From that view-
point we may include all this material as various forms
or species of the supernatural.
We may take up, then, the first division, the concrete
events, — the specific miraculous or supernatural occur-
rences recorded in the Old Testament.
172
ABEAHAM 173
Beginning of the Era of Religion
Though the religious movement of which we are the
heirs began very far back in the morning of the race,
it will be more convenient to begin our study with the
time of Abraham, when the movement becomes more
definite and observable.
It may be that the Adamic story given in the early
chapters of Genesis is intended to portray the very be-
ginning of the movement. As the genealogy in Luke
puts it (Luke 3 : 38), " Adam was the son of God."
That is to say, he was the first to stand in a personal,
companionable relation to God. At that time God
first began to deal with men in this relation of fellow-
ship which we call Religion.
Up to that time the evolution process had not pro-
ceeded above the level of the merely animal. There
were higher and lower animals, and that particular
strain from which man was to descend had advanced
very much higher than any other. They may have
already developed all of the intellectual powers and
faculties that distinguish man now. But yet in their
relation to the creator God, and in His attitude towards
them they were only animals and treated as such.
Religion as fellowship with God is something that
consists of and grows out of definite personal acts of
God to individuals. No such act had yet been done by
God to any individual of this evolving species, and no
intimation had been made to them or conception formed
by them that any such would be done. Indeed that
personal relation with God had not yet begun, and the
species had not yet been given the right to come into
174 THE SUPEENATUEAL
that relation. They were in all their relations, both in
their bodily life and in whatever might lie to them be-
yond the bodily life, not any different from what the
other animals are. They were exceedingly keen,
shrewd, most marvellous animals, but yet from the
standpoint of religion merely animals.
With the period which the Adamic narratives por-
tray God began to give personal acts of fellowship to
this species, or preferably to some individual or family of
this species (cf. Gen. 4= : 14-17 ; 6:2, etc.), for fellowship
is always with the individual. He made them aware
that He would do so, and that He expected reciprocal
feelings and acts from them, and thereby entailed upon
them a new world of responsibility. Indeed they were
thereby raised to a new level,— a new species. And
nembership in a higher species necessarily entails
idditional responsibilities and new conditions to be
net if the individual is to thrive,— and the species
persist.
Something like the above is what, from the evolution
)oint of view, it is plain must at some time have been
he state of the line of descent from which man came,
tnd some such transition must at some time have been
^one through in the course of the development of the
•ace, if men have evolved from lower animals which
lad no such relation to God. And something like that
vould seem to be a possible meaning of these Adamic
larratives or poems. From that time God began to
;ive personal treatment to men. In other words, that
vas the date from which the era of the supernatural
>egan. It was the beginning of the regime of religion,
ABEAHAM 175
and so the correct date for the beginning of the Bible
history since it is the history of religion, or of God
offering fellowship to men.
But the whole narrative, and the whole atmosphere
portrayed, down to the time of Abraham, is so different
from that of modern history that we may take the lib-
erty to pass it over in our examination. From the time
of Abraham the narrative proceeds more in the style
and atmosphere of modern history, and we may com-
mence at that point to examine the supernatural, — these
incidents in it which are different from the natural in-
cidents that we ordinarily find recorded in history.
The religious propaganda is quite definite and concen-
trated from that time on, and for that reason also we
may profitably take that as the starting point of the
study of this which we have inherited as our religion.
How Will Fellowship Begin ?
Let us suppose that God proposes to begin a regime
of fellowship with men, — a religious propaganda. Or
rather let us suppose He is entering upon a new stage,
a more definite and systematic promotion of that fellow-
ship regime. How will He go about it ?
Fellowship is not something to be promoted either by
teaching or by general benevolence. It is a mutual in-
terchange of sympathetic companionship, and can only
be promoted by doing appropriate personal acts,— the
acts in which fellowship consists. It implies God do-
ing something special and personal. Indeed under the
circumstances it implies God taking all the initiative.
Even among men where one party is very much higher
176 THE SUPEENATUEAL
than the other, real fellowship is never established
unless the higher party makes all the advances.
The movement had already begun with Adam, but
with Abraham we are supposing that God designs to
begin an important advance of that fellowship move-
ment. Abraham was already the Sheik of a large tribe
of several thousand persons (cf. Gen. 14 : 14). Their
descendants would develop into a nation, and this nation
was the one which God was to take to be the subject
of this great movement in religion. He intended to so
lead and develop them that they would respond to His
advances, and that He might thus be able to bestow
His fellowship and companionship upon them. That
is the project God has in mind. What would be the
steps that it would seem most natural for God to take
to begin to bring it about ?
It is plain that God's first task in beginning the great
fellowship propaganda must be to lay deep in men's
minds the feeling of God's friendliness and approach-
ableness. That is the thing they must be grounded in
first, for it is the one essential and fundamental thing.
The other particulars, the feeling of His greatness, holi-
ness, wisdom and the rest, can be gradually added at
leisure, but that is the first essential, with which alone
there could be fellowship, but without which fellow-
ship would be impossible.
If that is the thing desired it would be hard to con-
ceive of a better and more effective way to accomplish
it than just such a course as is outlined in the Abra-
hamic narrative. It is all a narrative of simple, homely
friendship. The expression is used that "Abraham
ABEAHAM 177
was called the Friend of God," and the converse of
that is also true, that the whole tone of the narrative
represents God as the familiar, congenial friend of
Abraham. All the supernatural events recorded have
distinctly that colouring. They all have one theme,
namely, ii powerful friend having occasional friendly
dealings with His friend.
This is vividly illustrated by some of the incidents
which otherwise seem hardest to understand and justify.
When Abraham himself is acting in far from a high and
noble manner the Friend is still loyal to him, as a friend
should be. For instance, in the cases when his cowardly,
deceitful conduct about his wife got him into trouble in
Egypt (Gen. 12:11-20), and Philistia (Gen. 20:1-7),
the Friend stood by him just as loyally as though he
had been worthy of it, and got him out of the trouble.
It is hard to see how the attitude of God in such in-
cidents as these could be justified on any theory that
God appears there as moral ruler, or as teaching the
way of a perfect life. He gives nothing but opposition
and trouble to the Egyptians and Philistines who acted
in all innocence, and nothing but help to Abraham,
who was entirely to blame.
But if He is appearing merely as Abraham's friend,
that is the only way He could do. That is precisely
what would be required by the code of friendship, but
something hard to justify on any other grounds.
Tutelar Divinities
It has been cited as indicating a low character for
all these narratives, that Jehovah figures merely as the
178 THE SUPEENATUEAL
tutelar or tribal patron divinity of Sheik Abraham, just
as any other great sheik would have some patron
divinity that he thought was specially favourable to
him.
That representation is correct. God does so appear
there, and He was just that and intended to be so. He
must be that if He would be the kind of God that reli-
gion presupposes and requires. That instinct which
led other tribes, communities or nations to believe in a
tutelar divinity specially favourable to them, was a cor-
rect, because natural, instinct, growing out of the nat-
ural needs of the heart. It is that need that God by
His true religion means to satisfy. That is really the
very essence of our devotional religion to-day. It is
personal friendship, and personal friendship is always
something which is specific to the individual in dis-
tinction from all others.
Jehovah was to Abraham just what the tutelar divin-
ities of other tribes were conceived to be to them, for
that is something that the human heart needs, and it is
the fundamental essence of religion. But His being
that did not prevent His also being far more. God
could be perfect man in Jesus Christ without inter-
fering with the fact that He was also infinite God.
That is the key to the whole problem and one of the
things we must not forget about God. He is great
enough that He can do little things just as easily as
great things, and exhibit Himself in small relations
just as easily as in great ones. The first and funda-
mental relation in which He wished to exhibit Himself
to men, as the basis of all their religion instincts, was
ABEAHAM 179
the relation of Friend, and that is the distinct character
of all His relations with Abraham.
A religion whose God was a being merely of infinite
power and wisdom would be sure to become a religion
of abject fear, practically like those religions in low
races which are called Devil Worship. If we add in-
finite justice and holiness it would but intensify the
fear, for men have consciences. Even if we add good-
ness and general benevolence, it would relieve the
situation very little. Our experience with men of that
character, especially if they are very rich, high and
powerful, is not very reassuring. Too often we ob-
serve that the more personally good and benevolent a
man is, the more exacting he is in his criticisms of
other people.
As a matter of fact it is the very hardest thing for
men to get to feel that a very great and good being
can also be very approachable, friendly and sympa-
thetic. Even with the benefit of all the Bible teaching
as to God's friendship and its concrete revelation in
Jesus Christ, yet so hard is it to really feel it that
through all the middle ages the feelings of men made
it necessary to bring in the Virgin Mary as the real
object of religious trust, affection and prayer, while
God the Father, and even the incarnate Jesus were
felt to be too exalted and severe for human comfort.
We can well see, then, why the first and most
essential thing in launching the great propaganda of
religion must be to take steps to get men well grounded
in the feeling of the friendship and familiar sympathy
of God. And that is just what such incidents as are
180 THE SUPEENATUEAL
recorded in the Abrahamic narratives would be
specially adapted to do.
Two Separate Eelations
To make an analogy, imagine the case of some
feudal retainer or court servant, who has come to be a
special favourite with his king or lord. The king has
a special fondness for him, and while he continues
right on in the duties and dangers of his service, yet
the king finds frequent occasion to meet with him as
friend with friend and enjoy his society, as well as to
favour him in various ways and stand loyally by him as
his friend. That would be a fairly accurate analogy of
this record of the intercourse of Abraham with God. It
illustrates the fundamental essence of the religion which
God wishes to have us practice, and in which He was
beginning to train Abraham and his descendants here.
But we must note that while God's dealings with
Abraham here, and with men generally in religion, are
in the attitude of friend rather than of moral ruler,
that does not mean that men are to act towards God
only as a friend, and never give Him the treatment
appropriate to a ruler. Even the court favourite must
always recognize that the king is king. God is our
Moral Euler. That is an integral part of natural law.
It is both natural and useful that men should treat God
in that capacity. Eeligion does not advise men not to
give God the obedience due to a ruler because it gives
them the privilege of approaching Him as their friend.
The two relations are not at all mutually exclusive or
contradictory.
ABEAHAM 181
Even part of God's friendly intercourse as a friend
with man may consist in teaching him the proper con-
duct towards Himself as Moral Kuler and Sovereign,
and in taking suitable steps to get men to give Him
that proper respect and treatment. It is really friend-
ship and kindness to do so. The king would be un-
kind towards his favourite if he did not when necessary
give him suitable advice and training in courtly manners
and behaviour.
The fact of these two relations, then, is fundamental
and important. While God does not in the least abdi-
cate His position of Moral Kuler, with all its necessary
duties and results devolving on men, yet He does ap-
proach and deal with men distinctly in the character
of friend, with all the sympathy as well as all the
privileges and amenities that our ordinary human re-
lations of friendship imply.
If we keep these two principles clearly in mind we
will be able to see a consistency and appropriateness in
all the Old Testament narratives of God's dealings
with men. And we will be able to see that by means
of them the Old Testament does after all bring a most
valuable contribution to religion, quite on the same
level as the New Testament, and well worthy to be
esteemed a revelation of God.
Always as Friend, Not as Moral Ruler
in the Supernatural Acts
The supernatural dealings of God with Abraham
consist first of a number of intimate, friendly inter-
views in which He makes him various promises, such
182 THE SUPERNATURAL
as the promise of a son, of possession of all that land,
of numerous posterity and general prosperity in the
future. In all these the attitude of God is represented
to be that of a familiar friend, though in some cases He
invests the interview with an air of mystery and
solemnity suggestive of a supernatural being. In the
interview about the destruction of Sodom this plane
of familiarity is especially emphasized. " Shall I hide
from Abraham the thing I am about to do," He says
(Gen. 18 : 17), as though it would be unkind to keep
secrets from His friend.
It is the extreme anthropomorphism in all these ac-
counts that in many minds has stamped them as being
certainly mythological. But really it was just that
view of God's character which it was the most neces-
sary to impress at this time. It was the most impor-
tant thing for the purposes God had in view that there
should be this extremely anthropomorphic aspect in all
these appearances. It was to fix indelibly in the hearts
of this race the feeling of God's personality and of His
friendly sympathy. Those are thoughts far more im-
portant for religion, at least at first, than the deeper
truths about His wisdom, justice, power and other
attributes. God considered them of such great im-
portance that He became man in the person of Jesus
Christ just to be able to impress those features and
make men feel them.
These incidents, and others like them, did fix deeply
in the hearts of this race the feeling that God was
their friend, and could be trusted and leaned upon as a
friend. They have had much part in producing that
ABEAHAM 183
feeling in all the Church down to modern times, and
Christians who still have the old faith in the old Bible
still get a good deal of their feeling of the reality of
God as a sympathetic friend from these same old
stories. It is rejecting all this part of the Bible as
spurious or mythological that has had much influence
in bringing many Christians to lose their vivid sense of
God as a present sympathetic friend, and to make re-
ligion to be merely and solely a matter of character-
building and social service, with God retained in it
chiefly as an ornament, — a sort of President Emeritus,
retained for the prestige of His name.
Certainly such stories as these do have the effect of
making God seem near and sympathetic. Children,
for instance, who believe in them implicitly, do get
from them a vivid feeling of God's reality and His
friendliness. Those who consider them fiction would
admit that as fiction such stories would be precisely
calculated to rouse in their readers such a feeling.
If men could be wise enough to make up fictitious
stories suited for producing that feeling, is not God
wise enough to make the real thing for the same pur-
pose, if the purpose is important enough ? It is no
more task for God to make the real thing than it is for
man to make the fictitious story, only provided there
is a desirable purpose to be attained by it. Nothing is
difficult or unlikely for God to do, if only there is a
sufficient motive for doing it. It is entirely a question
of reasons and importance, and here we see that the
entire purpose of God's great enterprise calls for some-
thing that will produce just that feeling in men's hearts,
184 THE STJPEKNATTJKAL
— calls for something precisely of the character of the
events and relations which are narrated here.
This same feature of God's loyal friendship for
Abraham is brought out in the two little side incidents
of God's appearing to the bondwoman Hagar. First,
when she is mistreated by her mistress and runs away,
she is met by God's angel and told to go back again to
her mistress (Gen. 16 : 71), precisely as a friend of the
family would have done if he had run across her, and
without any notice at all of the injustice with which
she had been treated. Later when she is sent away
rather cruelly by Abraham, God's angel again finds
her and befriends her (Gen. 21 : IT ff.), but does it very
expressly for Abraham's sake, because her son Ishmael
is Abraham's son. It is not the God of Justice, cer-
tainly not the teacher of morals and character, that is
most in evidence here, but merely the loyal, faithful
friend of Abraham.
In the incident of the great trial with regard to
offering up his son Isaac (Gen. 22 : 1-13), this is not so
evident at first sight, perhaps, but yet that really is the
nature of the incident. It is essentially a friend testing
the loyalty and trust of His friend, rather than the act
of a Moral Governor and divine sovereign. And this
fact helps to explain and justify what to the modern
conscience has presented several questionable features.
God wishes to test the faith and loyalty of His
friend. Not that He has any doubts Himself about it
or does not know, but rather He takes this means to
make conspicuous to all the world these noble traits
which He knew that His friend Abraham had in a
ABEAHAM 185
remarkable degree. Though it was doubtless pretty
severe while it was going on, yet really there was
no greater kindness or honour which He could have
showed to His friend than thus to prove conspicuously
before the world his noble character.
Familiak Approachableness Bather Than
Greatness
The trouble with us in these days is that we have
become so obsessed with the idea of bigness that we
can appreciate nothing but the bigness of God. It is
the biggest battle-ship, the biggest steel company, the
biggest international exposition that holds all our at-
tention. It is the infinite bigness of God that makes
the greatest appeal to us. It is a new discovery, and
we can't get through admiring it. Like the boy with
a new toy, who thinks it is about the most important
thing in the world, science has discovered the unmeas-
urable bigness and greatness of God, and we can't
bring our minds to appreciate that there are other
aspects of His character that may be of just as much,
or far more, religious value than this fact of His ex-
treme greatness.
As a philosophical fact this conception of the great-
ness of God is, of course, of very great importance.
But for practical devotional purposes, to us that great-
ness, beyond certain limits, is not an advantage but the
reverse. So much so that God had to veil that great-
ness by a human body and human nature in Jesus
Christ in order that it might be possible to make the
approach to us which religion required. For that
186 THE SUPERNATURAL
greatness tends to obscure in our minds the tenderer,
sympathetic qualities which form the basis of religion,
and which alone can meet the longings of our hearts.
We are making now that same mistake that the
Church in the middle ages made. They allowed their
minds to dwell so much upon the exalted majesty of
Jesus as the Son of God that even Jesus became ex-
alted entirely beyond the range of human sympathy,
and they had to bring in the offices of the Virgin Mary
and the Saints to supply that sympathetic friendship
which they could no longer conceive of God as afford-
ing. We have equally, from another angel, exalted
God in our thoughts to such an infinite greatness that
the same result has ensued. Only we have not put in
any substitute, as they did, but have built up a religion
consisting solely of character and social service, that
don't really much require any God to make it go.
What we most need to-day is to get back again to
the Old Testament with its anthropomorphic God.
We need just what these old Abraham stories furnish
to put a little blood and life into our religious experi-
ence. What our hearts need, just as much as theirs
and the people of all time, is this familiar, companion-
able God depicted here, who met with Abraham as
friend with friend, stood by him just as helpfully when
he did not deserve it as when he did, who seemed to
treat him almost as a bosom companion from whom He
had no secrets, and who had human spirit and humour
enough to employ a friendly stratagem to make con-
spicuous to all the world the marvellous faith and
loyalty of His friend Abraham.
IV
MOSES
THERE are a very few cases of the supernatural
in the times of Abraham's near descendants,
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, consisting of visions,
dreams and interpretations of dreams. Isaac has two
visions in which the promises already made to Abraham
are renewed to him (Gen. 26 : 2-5, 24). Jacob has the
dream of the ladder up to heaven (Gen. 28 : 12 ff.),
which Jesus Himself interprets (John 1 : 51) as con-
veying the same lesson which His own coming proved,
namely, that God is accessible to men and sympathetic
with them. Also there were the angels and the man
wrestling with him on his return from Padanaram with
a similar value (Gen. 32: 1-24 ff.). Joseph's dreams
(Gen. 37 : 5-11) were of personal favour and greatness
that was to be his, and his interpretation of the dreams
in Egypt (Gen. 40 : 9-19 and 41 : 25-36) were part of
God's plan to bring that favour to him. All of these
were calculated to make them feel that God was in-
terested in them and caring for their personal welfare.
All were very appropriate contributions to the great
purpose God had in His religious propaganda at that
stage.
After this we have record of no more supernatural
acts for several long centuries, till the times of Moses.
187
188 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
Beading the Bible one perhaps carelessly gets the
impression that the history of the Israelite race is
represented there as a continuous succession of these
miraculous events. The fact is that the record only
speaks of a few, coming at specially significant epochs
and hundreds of years apart. This relieves to some
extent the feeling of abnormalness.
Of course the occurrence of one single supernatural
event is just as great a problem as the occurrence of a
hundred, for it equally implies the same kind of a new
and different agency, and the agent that could do one
might also do a hundred. And yet a kind of event
that we never see at all in our own time we perhaps
find it easier to be reconciled to if its occurrence is not
represented as too frequent when it does occur.
Keason foe Miracles at This Time
When we come to the times of Moses, however, we
find the largest and most brilliant collection of these
miraculous events anywhere recorded in the Old Testa-
ment, and second only to those that occur in the life
of Christ. Is there a sufficient reason for this? Is
there any purpose which God had at this time that
would call for this kind of events ? and if so is it of
such a special nature that it would call for such an un-
usual number of them ?
This was the time of the founding of the nation of
Israel. It was the most important epoch in the history
of the people from whom all our religious traditions
have been received. Still if we interpret the history
of Israel merely as the history of a people who had
MOSES 189
great insight to appreciate religious truth, and if re-
ligion is merely knowledge of God's law and develop-
ment of character and conduct in accordance with that
law, any miracles at all at such a time would seem to
be not only unnecessary but a positive hindrance.
According to the theory we are following, however,
religion is a matter of fellowship with God, and fellow-
ship is not a matter of discovery or insight but of active
deeds and intercourse. It is something which requires
God to do something as well as men. Not because
God has to teach it or men would not know the way.
Even that might be an insufficient plea for the presence
of supernatural acts. God has to do part of it or there
is no fellowship.
Israel is to be the nation where this religion of
reciprocal fellowship is to be specially cultivated. It
is natural therefore to expect that in special crises of
their history some conspicuous acts of God's super-
natural fellowship will be done. This time of Moses is
a period which we may consider the most important
epoch in all their history, for it is the time of first es-
tablishing and organizing them as a nation. It will not
be unreasonable therefore to find a very special display
of God's supernatural works occurring at that time.
"We have just seen that the first great cluster of such
events occurred at the time when this specific move-
ment was first being launched, — when God was first
separating out the race of people and beginning with
them the long course of religious propaganda, in the
time of Abraham. Though that movement, of select-
ing and setting apart this race, was more fundamental,
190 THE SUPEKKTATUKAL
yet the movement now of erecting them into a nation
was a much larger movement, and there were many
more people present and concerned, so we find even
more of these supernatural acts at this time than in the
time of Abraham.
They are also of a slightly different kind, as befits
the case, larger and broader in their nature, and includ-
ing the feature of calamities inflicted on other nations
in aid of this nation, and also of chastisement of unruly
parts of the nation itself for the greater benefit of the
whole. At bottom, however, the acts all have the
same nature as those done to Abraham, namely, acts of
friendship, even we may say of partiality. They are not
the acts of impartial rule and justice, such as we would
naturally attribute to the moral ruler of the world, but
partial acts of special friendship and favouritism to one
certain favoured nation. Indeed they are afterwards
emphatically and frequently appealed to as being acts
of partiality and favour.
Beginning of the Movement
The beginning of this group of miracles was the call
of Moses by God in the burning bush in the wilder-
ness (Ex. 3 : 2 ff.). This has been interpreted as a
very significant sign, indicating that though Israel was
in the midst of the fire of affliction they would not be
consumed. But far more important than any such
mystical meaning is the simple fact itself, that after
long centuries of silence in the unseen, God was now
again beginning to give visible exhibition of His per-
sonal interest and sympathy for His people.
MOSES 191
It must indicate that some epoch of importance has
arrived. God always has sympathy and personal care
for His people, but it is not commonly His plan to show-
it visibly. He always has perfect sympathy and in-
terest when He is not giving any visible sign as well as
when He is, so it is not a proof of new or greater in-
terest when there is some visible sign or miracle on
their behalf. It must be a sign that some special epoch
or occasion has arisen in which it would be appropriate
to make one of the occasional visible manifestations of
His interest.
And so we see that this marks the beginning of a
great movement by which the Israelites were removed
from Egypt, organized into a nation and settled in the
land of Canaan, in which they were to play the lead-
ing part in the development of religion for many cen-
turies. In some respects this was one of the most im-
portant events in history, — that is to say, it was an
epoch or crisis in recent evolution.
While the outward appearance of this miracle was
such as to suggest mystery and fear, by the fire and
the unconsumed bush, yet the actual substance of the
interview was such as to confirm our position that when
God appears in the supernatural it is never in the char-
acter of moral ruler, creator or anything else that be-
longs to nature, but always in the character of partial,
patient friend.
The movement is now going to be national. He is
going to deal with nations. He assigns Moses a place
and a leading part in the great act of friendship He is
going to do for the nation. But it is distinctly as His
192 THE SUPERNATURAL
own agent. Moses is to be simply God's agent in a
great friendship act.
It is an act oi friendship and not of justice or judg-
ment, and it is so set forth. There is no hint that the
Egyptians did not have a perfect right to retain the
Israelites as slaves. Israel themselves did the same to
the Gibeonites at a later period. It was recognized as
a perfectly allowable thing in that age. It is true that
complaint is made of great cruelty that the Egyptians
had inflicted on them (Ex. 3 : 7, etc.), but that is not re-
ferred to as a crime of inhumanity to be punished but
simply as a misfortune under which His friends suf-
fered and from which He was going to deliver them.
It is altogether a case of a powerful friend seeing His
friends in distress and proposing to go and help them.
Towards Moses, too, personally God acts more like
a friend than a sovereign. Instead of commanding
him He reasons with him to persuade and assure him.
Even after Moses had resisted and refused in the most
disappointing manner He is still patient and gentle
with him, plans for his brother to be a helper to him,
and gives him several signs of a supernatural nature
both to reassure him and to give him standing before
the Egyptian court.
After Moses goes back to Egypt, shows his signs,
and his demand for the liberty of his people is followed
by the command for still severer bondage, there follow
the ten plagues (Ex. 5-12), by which the Egyptians are
entirely overawed and the Israelite people are allowed
to go out from the country.
It is not necessary to go into the details of either the
MOSES 193
signs or the plagues. They all have the same object,
to so frighten the Egyptians that they would be will-
ing to let their slaves run away from them, and at the
same time to impress those slaves, the people of Israel,
with the fact that they had a very powerful friend who
was exerting Himself on their behalf.
That is the real character of the whole transaction.
It is not judgment on the Egyptians for any crime. It
is not punishment. It is not even claimed to be an act
of justice. It is simply the arbitrary act of one who
was strong enough to do it, taking away the lawful
slaves of the Egyptian people and giving them their
freedom, because they were His friends and He wished
to do them a favour.
It was quite in accord with the universal law of na-
tions at that time for Him to do this, — the law that has
been supreme all up the evolution process till very
recent times, — the law "that he may take who can."
It was no international wrong for Him to free those
slaves, as the laws of nations were at that time, but
neither was it God interfering to right a great interna-
tional wrong. It was simply God as a great and pow-
erful friend interfering to help His friends in trouble.
While the sending of these plagues does not figure
as an act of punishment on God's part, but merely the
arbitrary act of a strong friend doing a favour to his
friends, yet there was an element of punishment asso-
ciated with it. This is referred to by the Apostle Paul
when he says that God raised Pharaoh up especially
for the purpose of exhibiting His wrath upon him
(Rom. 9 : 17).
194 THE SUPERNATURAL
But this punishment was quite a side issue, and did
not furnish the main purpose of the movement. That
main purpose was deliverance of His friends, and not
punishment of injustice that had been inflicted on them.
Indeed in as far as it was considered to be of the nature
of punishment it was not punishment for any wrong
done to the Israelites but punishment of his stubborn-
ness in resisting God's orders and plans.
Emphatically it was not punishment for punishment's
sake either, but punishment for a warning, to make
people feel that they must not interfere when God un-
dertakes to assist His friends. If God intentionally
raised Pharaoh up for that punishment we cannot pos-
sibly consider that its main purpose was to secure get-
ting a bad man punished. Its teaching value must
have been its main meaning. It is the benefit to Israel
and others that is the real object, not the punishment
to Pharaoh.
Using Natural Law
We may notice in passing a very important point to
which allusion has already been made. Most of these
plagues were not supernatural at all in form, in the
sense that the supernatural is usually defined, namely,
as something out of the range of the action of the laws
of nature. They were purely natural events, produced
entirely by natural causes in the natural way, and
were events the exact equivalents of which have very
probably occurred at various other times both be-
fore and since. Such were the storm, the locusts, the
murrain and several of the others, — possibly even all of
them.
MOSES 195
And yet they were in the truest sense supernatural
events, that is to say, they had the same meaning, value
and force as all the other events in the Bible that are
called supernatural. The whole movement of the his-
tory and the esteem of all men classes them in the same
class with all those other events.
What gives all of them their special place and mean-
ing is not that they were done with or without the or-
dinary operations of nature, but that they were acts of
God intentionally directed for the benefit of some indi-
vidual or restricted group. Such these plagues are
represented to be. They are acts of God intentionally
and personally directed for the help of the Israelites.
In this case He used the ordinary operations of nature
to produce that specialized help, as in other cases He
used some other means. The means is not essential.
It is the motive and the object that are essential.
To us there is special importance in the fact that God
so used the forces of nature here for that purpose. It
tends to reassure us, as it did the people of that time
and of all times, that it does not require a violation of
the natural order of things for God to bring us some
help or good if He wishes to do so. It helps us to feel
that even while all things are running along smoothly
and unvaryingly in the channels of nature, God can,
does and is taking individual care of our best in-
terests, and can, does, and is bringing about events
with special reference to our good. It is this species
of the supernatural which is especially suited to bring
religious comfort and assurance to people of the present
day.
196 THE SUPERNATURAL
Personal Care
What was true of the plagues was also true of what
occurred at the crossing of the Red Sea and the de-
struction of Pharaoh's army (Ex. 14 : 21-31). It was
all brought about by natural causes, but yet it is prop-
erly called a supernatural event, for it is manifestly
exhibited as an event specially planned and produced
by God for the sake of this people which He wished to
befriend. Also it was not the act of God as moral
ruler, or a judicial act, but entirely an act of partiality
and favouritism. God does not profess to be punishing
the Egyptian army for any wrong they had done to
Israel, much less to be rewarding Israel for any merit.
On the contrary it was their improper conduct in mur-
muring and threatening to rebel that was the immediate
antecedent of the deliverance. It was not an act of
judgment but the patience of a long-suffering friend.
We may group here also a number of incidents that
occurred at various times all through the journey to
Canaan. There was the pillar of cloud and fire
(Ex. 13:21, etc.), the bitter waters healed (Ex. 14:
23-26), the manna (Ex. 16:4 ff.), the quails (ver. 13), the
water from the rock (Ex. 17:5, 6). Some of these
were apparently produced by natural causes and some
not, but they all alike must be classed as supernatural,
for they are distinctly recorded as specially and inten-
tionally brought about by God for their personal benefit
as His friends.
Their object was the same as that of all the other
supernatural, namely, to impress upon the people now
at this critical time the friendliness, sympathy and ac-
MOSES 197
cessibility of God. They were all acts done to care for
this people and supply their wants, and mostly to sup-
ply wants that all the large body of people felt person-
ally and very acutely, as for instance hunger and thirst
in the desert.
Such acts would make just the kind of impression it
was most important to make, and would make it very
deep and strong. They would make this deep impres-
sion not merely on a few leaders but on all the people,
who were all the beneficiaries of the help. And it
would be remembered and felt by them and by their
descendants for many generations to come. Such
supernatural acts were therefore very appropriate for
the purposes desired, and this was a very appropriate
and opportune time for their occurrence.
At Mount Sinai
Most important of all were the events that occurred
about Mount Sinai, in connection with the giving of
the law (Ex. 19 ff.). Not only does Moses day after
day meet and talk with God and receive from Him
all kinds of communications, but God reveals Him-
self personally in a most conspicuous way to all the
people.
The whole mountain is covered with a veil of smoke
or cloud for days, with God understood to be veiled
within the cloud. From time to time come thunder
and lightning as tokens of His presence, and at a cer-
tain time God speaks from the midst of the cloud with
a mighty voice that all the assembled people could
hear. Altogether it is by far the most spectacular
198 THE SUPERNATURAL
piece of the supernatural recorded in the Old Testament,
or indeed in the whole Bible.
It must have been a most impressive sight and a
momentous occasion. Here was a great company of
people, still thrilling with the joy of their recent de-
liverance from slavery, and looking forward with eager
expectancy to a career that was before them in a land
which was to be theirs, and all by the favour and the
special acts of a great, powerful, unseen God who was
befriending them. Now amid scenes made up of the
most impressive natural phenomena they actually meet
God personally present before them within the mystery
of the smoke- veiled mountain. As they look He speaks
to them, and they hear a voice proportioned to the
greatness and majesty of the rest of the scene. He
proclaims Himself their God and friend, and enunciates
ten great fundamental rules for their welfare.
What we are interested in here is in seeing whether
all this scene was consistent and appropriate, and
whether there was a sufficient and appropriate purpose
for a manifestation of that kind. Was the occasion
sufficient to warrant such a great display ? Were the
acts themselves appropriate and fitted to advance some
purpose that was held by God at that time ?
The events recorded were certainly very spectacular,
and in magnitude and impressiveness they were greater
than 6ccurred at any other time. Just so this was the
most momentous time in the whole Old Testament
movement, and the one that would warrant the most
magnificent display. It was the founding and organiz-
ing of the nation,— of the body in which the whole
MOSES 199
religious movement was to be carried on. That would
naturally be a time for the most conspicuous displays
and most impressive manifestations.
In human affairs it is always so. Men always con-
sider some kind of special impressive display appro-
priate at the founding of any important institution.
Not that God feels the same desire for display as men
do, for this display was not for God's satisfaction but
for men's sake, to impress them. And since human
feeling calls for some such display as appropriate at such
a time, that was sufficient reason for God granting it.
But more than that, there was great practical use for
such a display at this time. The way a project is
started out may give the bent to all its future course.
If this nation in the very act of their organization were
deeply impressed with a peculiarly intimate and friendly
relation of God towards them, as well as with His
magnificent and enormous power, that might deeply
affect all their subsequent history, — as in fact it did.
If at the time of the founding right tendencies were
formed and deeply impressed, this would have im-
mensely more influence than an equal effort to produce
those right tendencies after wrong tendencies had gained
headway. If there was ever to be a time when the
strongest effort should be made to make the right im-
pressions on them it was now. If God were ever going
to use supernatural events to make an impression on
them we would naturally expect that there would be
such events and a greater number and more striking
display of them at that time than at any other.
Were these events appropriate ? What was the pur-
200 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
pose God had in view? Were such events as these
suited to impress on the people what He chiefly wanted
to impress upon them ?
He wished to make such an impression upon them as
a nation that they would always feel that He was their
friend, near them and sympathetically interested in
them, as well as able to help them. In fact He wanted
to make such an impression upon them that they would
feel towards Him very much the same feeling that the
other nations felt with regard to their special Tutelar
Deities.
There is a suggestive thought there that we will do
well to consider. That sort of feeling was a right
feeling as far as it went. Felt towards God it is the
very essence of religion. It is a natural yearning of
the human heart, and we cannot think that the true
religion that God shall institute will be less satisfying
to the yearnings of the human heart that these other,
mistaken religions.
God wanted to impress them once for all with the
reality of His presence and friendly relation specifically
to them. What more effective way can we conceive
than by just such a scene as that which occurred at
Mount Sinai ? They listen to the actual voice of God
speaking to them. It is a voice of sufficient magnitude
to impress upon them enormous power and superhuman
character. At the same time it is speaking to them
personally, not merely speaking something in general
for all the world, which they happen to be able to hear.
It is distinctly personal and restricted to them. It is
addressing them in the attitude of a friend, and is pref-
MOSES 201
aced by a reference to His previous special interest in
them and favours to them. " I am Jehovah your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of
the house of bondage " (Ex. 20 : 2).
It is an actual physical meeting with God, just as
real and in the same sense as they would meet with
any human friend. Unlike Abraham's meetings with
God his friend, God does not here appear in the size
and form of an ordinary man, but in something greater
and more majestic. This was appropriate to the new
conditions. It was a nation that was now concerned.
The nation now needed to feel that they had a friend
great and strong enough to be to them the friend that
they needed as a nation in their conflicts and national
troubles. The enormous voice of God speaking from
the heart of the smoke- veiled mountain would produce
that feeling of majestic power and greatness, while the
sympathetic, personal note of His speech would still
impress them that it was a sympathetic friend that was
so enormously great and strong.
Unlike Abraham again, they did not see God in any
visible form. The form of a man would not be appro-
priate for such an enormous voice, and any other form
would be out of place. The only reason for ever ap-
pearing to men in a physical form was in order to
appear familiar and companionable to them, and that
could be affected only by a man's form of ordinary
size. As that would be inappropriate here no form
was shown. All feeling of abnormalness or lack, how-
ever, was obviated by having the place of His presence
veiled with the thick smoke and cloud.
202 THE SUPERNATURAL
The whole scene, therefore, is perfectly consistent
and appropriate. It teaches the lesson which they as
a nation needed then most to learn. It is specially
calculated to impress upon them that there was a great
God who was their ally and helper, that He was a
being exceedingly grand and powerful, yet sympathetic
and favourable to them.
Ruler or Friend ?
When we come to consider the substance of what
God says, both now from Sinai and later to Moses, we
might, at first thought, be disposed to consider that He
is appearing here as God the great Moral Ruler rather
than merely as a friend. His communications consist
chiefly of rules and laws.
But we must bear in mind that now He is addressing
them in their capacity as a nation, since it is the occa-
sion of the founding of the nation. He is not speaking
to them as individuals that may be restricted and re-
strained by those laws, but as a nation to which laws
are the sinews of life. As a nation He is herein giving
them the food to sustain their national life, just as at
another time He gave them manna to sustain individual
physical life. Both acts may be assigned to the same
class, as gifts of kindness and friendship.
Or again, we notice that Moses is represented as in
daily consultation with God over the affairs of the na-
tion, just like a subordinate in consultation with his
chief. He goes out day by day to the appointed place
of meeting, there he confers directly with God, receives
instructions and is directed by Him, and gradually
MOSES 203
elaborates the system of government and religious rit-
ual for the nation. This would seem to mean, — as in-
deed is often explicitly declared later, — that God claims
to be the immediate head and ruler of this newly or-
ganized nation. At first thought this would also seem
to be a contradiction of our theory that God in the
supernatural stands always in the attitude of friend
and helper. Here He seems to be standing in the atti-
tude of ruler.
It is true He does appear as ruler here, and He claims
that place all through the history of Israel. But we
must notice a fundamental difference between this rela-
tion of ruler and the relation of God as the moral ruler
of the world. It is not as the impartial judge and sov-
ereign moral ruler of the whole world that He appears
here, but as the specific ruler of this one nation. He
appears not as the impartial arbiter of all nations but
as the partisan of this one, completely identified with
their interests even when they antagonize the equally
just interests of other nations. Moreover if we count
that the ideal ruler exists for the sake of the nation and
not the nation for the sake of the ruler, it is fair to take
that value as the value of the relation of God here in
His proposed perfect rule of this nation of Israel.
It is not an exception then, but just a higher instance
of the same fact of God in the supernatural always ap-
pearing in a friendly personal relation, giving some
benefit. This was the highest way in which He could
come into personal relations with this nation, and the
highest kind of friendship and greatest benefit He could
give to it as a nation.
204 THE SUPERNATURAL
Othek Incidents
Other supernatural incidents of this travel period,
such as the miraculous judgment of Korah, Dathan
and Abiram (Num. 16), and of the priests Nadab
and Abihu (Lev. 10 : 1-2), grow directly and neces-
sarily out of this relation of God as chief of the nation.
They were severe on the individuals concerned, but
they were necessary for the welfare of the whole na-
tion, and so are to be classed as benefits, not evils. If
laws are to be valued as benefits the execution of those
laws must also be rated as benefits.
One little incident, the miraculous healing of persons
bitten by serpents through looking at the brazen ser-
pent lifted up on a pole (Num. 21 : 6-9), was used by
Jesus (John 3 : 14, 15), as a type of the free gift of
Eternal Life that every one that would look to Him
should receive. This and all the other wilderness mira-
cles have the one aspect and meaning of God meeting
men on a human plane in a friendly attitude bringing
personal favours.
There were some little side incidents connected with
Baalam and Balak (Num. 22-24) that contain cases of
the supernatural. It would emphasize to the people
the thoroughness of God's care for them to see Him
thus on their behalf interfering in the affairs of other
nations. The incidents also seem to imply that, though
unrecorded in the Bible, God probably at times made
personal revelations and had personal contact with oth-
ers outside of the people of Israel, though only sporad-
ically and not in the organized manner that He did so
in Israel. If there were even occasionally thus such
MOSES 205
revelations to other peoples it would make it seem still
easier to justify the one long special dealing with this
special people.
The first supernatural event in this connection was
the appearance to Balaam by dream with reference to
his going to Balak (Num. 22 : 9-20). The fact that
God first forbade him to go and later allowed him to
go because He saw his heart was set on it, is not con-
trary to what we know God's attitude to men is. It
shows God, however, not in His attitude of absolute
sovereign ruler, but rather in the attitude of friendly,
indulgent over-lord. It is a human relation, not a
divine one, and governed by human considerations in a
very human way. Though He is sovereign with au-
thority, yet He acts rather by way of persuasion and
advice, and in such an attitude as to invite the freedom
of fellowship rather than forced obedience.
On the way going to Balak we have the extremely
curious incident of the ass speaking to Balaam with a
human voice, and an angel appearing (vers. 22-35).
This incident, — making an ass speak, — seems so crude
and inconsistent with the dignity of the ruler of the uni-
verse that we are inclined to set it aside as certainly
merely a folk tale or myth.
But we should remember that this was before the
days of automobiles and wireless telegraph, and the ass
was a much more honoured member of the household
than now. Anyway it is not as ruler of the universe
that God deals with man in these supernatural acts, but
as friend, and expressly to impress His friendliness
and approachableness. So the more homely the act
206 THE STJPEKNATUKAL
the more appropriate, as it would have the more
value for impressing the relation of companionable
friend.
Two or three other miracles in the early part of
Joshua's career, such as the crossing of the Jordan
(Josh. 3 : 14-17), the taking of Jericho (Josh. 6 : 15-21),
the vision of the armed man (Josh. 5 : 13-15), and the
like, naturally belong in this group. They are still
connected with the organizing and establishing of the
nation. Like all the others their import is to impress
the friendly help and accessibility of God. Jehovah as
an armed champion was the real leader of the great
enterprise that was to get them a land to dwell in. A
miraculous entrance into the land and a miraculous
taking of the first city in it and other subsequent
miraculous help, were suggestive of what He intended
to do for them all through the enterprise, — namely, to
open up all barrier's and subdue everything before them.
The Fundamental Question
Such is the form and such the meaning of this bril-
liant cluster of supernatural events which accompanied
the organization of this nation which God proposed to
use in such a special way. They are all consistent and
appropriate, provided only God's purpose was such as
we have maintained that it was, — provided religion is
primarily a personal social relation between men and
God, — and provided God's purpose in religion and in
this enterprise with the people of Israel was not merely
to elevate the moral character of the world, and get a
set of high and useful laws accepted and adopted, but
MOSES 207
to establish a friendly, trustful social relation between
people and Himself.
If religion is fellowship with God, and God had
singled out this people of Israel for the purpose of
cultivating a high and close state of fellowship with
them, it would be strange indeed if in such a special
time as this, the most critical in all their history, He
did not give them some special manifestation of His
friendliness and personal interest. It would be strange
if He did not do something so evident that they would
unquestionably recognize it and vividly feel it, and
something of such a nature that it would tend to pro-
duce in them a feeling of loyalty, trust and fellowship
all through their future. It would be strange if God
did not give some special manifestations for that pur-
pose, and it would be hard to imagine any manifesta-
tions better adapted to serve that purpose than just
these that are recorded here in this Moses narrative.
There is nothing strange or hard to believe in any
of this, provided only we recognize the supernatural as
one of the accepted factors of history. There is really
the crucial question. Such things do not occur ap-
parently now, and with our scientific and matter-of-
fact minds it is so hard to vividly imagine their occur-
ring that accounts of them seem unreal to us.
But the question of the supernatural is not a small,
indifferent matter. The whole fabric of our devotional
religion depends on it. The whole movement of con-
version, faith and inner Christian experience implies
special personal acts and relations of God. All answer
to prayer is necessarily of the nature of the super-
208 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
natural. It is so even if the answer comes entirely
through natural means, or if the whole affair is entirely
in the mental and unseen sphere. If God gives any
benefit really because it is asked for and as a personal
favour to the asker, it is just as supernatural as the
majestic voice from Sinai. If He does not, then prayer
is a sham and a self-deception. It cannot have value
even as good spiritual calisthenics, for what healthy
spiritual benefit can come from mockery and deception ?
The trouble with most of us is that we do believe
in the supernatural ourselves, but many men whose
opinions we greatly respect do not believe it possible,
and so we would like to reduce the volume of the
conspicuously supernatural in our religion as much as
possible, so as to avoid rousing their prejudices.
But cowardice never wins battles. If the supernat-
ural is a fact it not only demands our belief, but it is a
valuable factor in the fabric of knowledge and life.
We ought to rejoice in it and give it our enthusiastic
allegiance, just as much as men of science do with
strange and revolutionary scientific facts.
ELIJAH
FEOM this time of the organization of the nation,
on through some five long centuries, again we
have only a few sporadic and inconspicuous
cases of the supernatural occurring. Aside from some
things that would more properly be considered under
the class of prophecy, the list is very short, and they
all had their appropriate meaning and use at the time.
There was the angel appearing to Gideon (Judg.
6 : 11 ff.), and the homely little test of the dew on the
fleece (vers. 36-40) at the time of a great defection and
a great deliverance. There was the angel appearing to
announce the birth of Samson, who did such remark-
able deeds against the Philistine oppressors (Judg.
13:3 ff.). In the time of Eli, when the Ark, the symbol
of Jehovah's presence, was taken away out of the coun-
try by the Philistines, there were some supernatural
signs and plagues on the Philistines (1 Sam. 5), and
some signs when the Ark was again sent back to its
own country (1 Sam. 6), to which we may add the sign
of judgment upon Uzzah (2 Sam. 6 : 7), when it was to
be brought up to the capital of the country in the time
of David.
There were God's call to Samuel and some other
special signs (1 Sam. 3, etc.), during the period when a
209
210 THE SUPERNATURAL
critical change was to be made, and the government
become that of a kingdom. At the time when the
temple was dedicated there was a sign of acceptance in
a cloud filling the building (1 Kings 8 : 10, 11). At
the time of Jeroboam's setting up false worship he was
denounced by a prophet, and as a sign his hand was
withered and then restored (1 Kings 13 : 4-6).
All these supernatural signs were quite homely and
unobtrusive, and not much of a list to be scattered over
more than ^vq hundred years. If God was personally
promoting this enterprise of training Israel, and if the
essential thing was to win them to a confirmed state of
fellowship and trust in Himself as their great friend,
the wonder is not that there were so many, but that in
the long stretch of five centuries there were so few of
these supernatural acts to make vivid to them His
friendly presence.
All at Special Times
They all came at times of crisis or importance in
their history. The first, under Gideon, came at a time
when the nomadic Midianite hordes had invaded the
country in such force as to threaten to destroy them
out of the land, as they themselves in a somewhat simi-
lar way had supplanted the former inhabitants of the
country. The second, in connection with Samson, came
at the time when the strong Philistine nation was be-
ginning to spread its power over them, and threaten-
ing to destroy or absorb them. In both these cases the
report spreading through the country that their God
had granted a supernatural appearance to some one
ELIJAH 211
would have great influence to encourage the people
against the foes that threatened both their nation and
their religion, and it would kindle anew in many fickle
hearts the feeling of trust and loyalty to their great
patron Jehovah.
The third was when these same Philistines had ad-
vanced their power by a great victory, and had carried
away the Ark, the sacred emblem of Jehovah's pres-
ence and friendship. The supernatural features exhib-
ited here were quite significant. In the first place the
presence of the Ark brought only disaster and suffer-
ing to the Philistines, seeming to indicate that the God
which it represented was the partisan of the Israelites
still. The remarkable circumstances of the return
seemed to indicate unequivocally that it was Israel to
which He gave His favours. The judgment of those
who handled it with rude curiosity was suited to im-
press the sacredness of the personality that was there
represented. In the judgment that fell on Uzzah when
the Ark was removed later to Jerusalem, the same les-
son was taught, of the sacredness and majesty of the
Jehovah whose token it was. This, though severe, was
really a friendly advice that it was very necessary and
valuable for the nation to receive.
During the period when a kingdom was being first
established, and the nature of the government changed
to the unified rule of a visible sovereign, in the time of
Samuel, it was very appropriate that this great change
should not take place without some supernatural re-
minders of the presence and continued friendly and
helpful relations of Jehovah. Of course it was appro-
212 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
priate that there should be some visible sign of God's
presence when the national worship was being perma-
nently established in adequate form in the capital.
And it was quite appropriate that the religious defec-
tion or heresy of Jeroboam, which was ultimately to
alienate a large part of the nation from God entirely,
should not be allowed to pass without some supernat-
ural protest.
The Great Ceisis
We now come to another, and the last brilliant clus-
ter of miracles in the Old Testament. We find that it
came at a time of great crisis for the cause, only second
in its importance to the time of Moses when the nation
was founded with such a brilliant display. It was the
time of Elijah and Elisha.
The nation was inundated with an overwhelming in-
vasion of a rival religion, that seemed likely to blot out
the Jehovah religion entirely. Not only the northern
tribes, but the more loyal southern nation of Judah as
well, were ruled by sovereigns zealous for the Baal
worship, and so thoroughly had the great mass of the
people been carried over to the new allegiance that the
prophet Elijah honestly believed that he was almost
the only one left in all the land really loyal to Jehovah
(cf. 1 Kings 19 : 10). It must have been a very critical
time for the cause indeed. No wonder then if this was
one of the times God chose for a numerous and bril-
liant display of these acts that revealed His friendly
presence.
The supernatural events of this group may be roughly
divided into two classes. Those in the first class were
ELIJAH 213
severe and conspicuous, those in the second class mild,
beneficent and more private. Those in the first class
concerned the nation or groups of people, those in the
second chiefly individuals. Those in the first class may
be considered as addressed to the nation, to win it back
to organized allegiance to its protector, God. Those
in the second class may be considered as intended to
invite individuals into the relation of trust and friend-
ship. This division, however, is not very strictly main-
tained, as a number of the occurrences would not cor-
respond to it.
Conspicuous in the first class are the famine that
Elijah foretold (1 Kings 17 : 1 ff.), the fiery test on
Carmel (1 Kings 18 : 30 ff.), and his calling down fire
from heaven to slay the soldiers sent against him
(2 Kings 1 : 9-12). It has been suggested that as Baal
was considered to be especially the lord of fire and of
the sun, God's using these as the medium of chastising
signs was sarcastically directed at the Baal worship.
At any rate they were adapted to impress God's great
power and make the people feel how desirable it was
to be under the friendship and protection of such a
strong God.
Elijah himself is represented as being carried up by
a chariot of fire to heaven (2 Kings 2:11), but at
Horeb, although the enormous force of the earth-
quake, storm and fire went before as signs, it was not
in these but in the gentle, quiet voice of friendly fellow-
ship that God made His real approach to Elijah (1 Kings
19:12).
Three others of the supernatural events were of
214 THE SUPERNATURAL
national significance. In one the army of Israel was
saved from perishing of thirst by water furnished in
a mysterious way in ditches dug in the valley, and
a great victory gained over the Moabites (2 Kings
3:13 ff.). In another, after revealing to his king the
stratagems of the Syrian king, Elisha strikes the Syrian
soldiers sent to capture him with blindness and leads
them to his own king at Samaria (2 Kings 6 : 8-23).
In the third, by making them hear a mysterious noise
God frightened the Syrian army besieging Samaria
and caused them to flee and raise the siege (2 Kings
6 : 24 ff.)-
All these incidents represent Jehovah as the patron
and partisan of the Israelite nation, for of course there
was no question of right or justice concerned either
way according to the accepted law of nations at that
time. In the first case there was first a protest made
that after their shabby treatment of their protector
Jehovah they ought not to have the face to expect Him
to help them now, and yet for all that He does help
them.
A rather peculiar incident is the case of the crowd
of boys that was attacked by bears after ridiculing
the prophet Elisha near Bethel (1 Kings 2 : 23, 24).
Though our sympathies are touched, perhaps, by the
youth of the offenders, yet the meaning of the occur-
rence was practically the same as of the judgment on
Uzzah (2 Sam. 6 : 2), on the Bethsheraesh men (1 Sam.
6:19), or on Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:2). There
must have been a large crowd of the young men al-
together if as many as forty-two received injuries.
ELIJAH 215
They must have represented a very bitter and deter-
mined element opposed to Jehovah, as otherwise, after
all his spectacular experiences, a crowd of boys would
surely have hailed Elisha as a famous hero instead of
ridiculing him, for that is boy nature.
Keally there was nothing outside of nature in what
the bears did, and we are not told that Elisha even pre-
dicted any such thing, yet probably we would be right
in including this among the supernatural events. At
least as such it would not be inappropriate.
Of the quieter, individual events several concern the
prophet himself. There was the feeding of Elijah by
ravens at the brook (1 Kings 17 : 6), the angel at the
juniper tree in the wilderness (1 Kings 19 : 5-8), the
crossing of the Jordan (2 Kings 2 : 8), and the re-
crossing again by Elisha after the ascension of Elijah
(ver. 14). All these were simple little acts of personal
care, excellently adapted to impress the friendly, con-
genial attitude of God towards those that seek to be in
that relation with Him.
The remainder of these events were mostly with
humble individuals. There was the meal and oil
multiplied to sustain the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings
17 : 14-16), her son restored to life (vers. 17-24), the
water supply of the prophets in Jericho made good
(2 Kings 2 : 19-22), the prophet's widow aided by mul-
tiplying her cruse of oil (2 Kings 4 : 1-7), the son of
Elisha's Shunemite hostess restored to life (vers. 8-37),
the ax recovered (2 Kings 6 : 4-7), the poisoning of
the prophets healed (2 Kings 4 : 38-41), and the in-
cident of Naaman (2 Kings 5 : 1 ff.).
216 THE SUPERNATURAL
Restricted to a Special Group
It will be noticed that with the exception of the last
all of these were in aid of some member of the order
of the prophets or of some one who had conspicuously
favoured the prophet himself. This is so marked that
it must be given value as a feature of the case. Re-
member that it was a time of very wide defection.
These " Sons of the prophets," whatever their other
characteristics, were certainly a body of people loyally
attached to Jehovah in the midst of the defection.
These therefore specially represent the " Friends " to
whom God might be expected to show Himself
friendly. That He does single these out for the almost
exclusive objects of His favours marks these events as
not general benevolence but acts of personal fellowship
and friendship with distinct meaning.
The healing of ISTaaman was a conspicuous event, and
it was not done for any member or friend of the pro-
phetic order. In this respect it is an exception among
the private miracles. But it is an exception that proves
the rule or impresses the same lesson that all the
others do.
It is not done to one of the prophetic order who were
faithful to Jehovah, but neither is it done to one of the
other people of Israel who were so largely unloyal. It
is done to some one outside of Israel entirely. It
looks as if God wanted to show that He was still ac-
cessible in a friendly spirit when sought by others be-
sides those in the prophetic order, but purposely refused
to do the friendly act to those who had specifically
violated the laws of friendship by their disloyalty,
ELIJAH 217
and went outside entirely to find some one to do the
act to.
Notice that Jesus uses this incident and that of the
widow of Sarepta to point this very lesson (Luke 4 :
25-27), illustrating the fact that Jesus could not do the
acts of blessing and friendship He wished to do to His
old neighbours who ought to have been His best friends
but had to go outside to other strange communities to
do them.
After the death of Elisha there is the account of a
dead man raised to life when his body touched the
bones of the dead prophet (2 Kings 13 : 21). Such an
incident as that would be calculated to bring very
vividly again before the mind and feelings of the peo-
ple the departed prophet and all that his life and
teaching stood for. It is that aspect which gives it
its appropriateness.
Later Instances
From this time on, during the following seven long
centuries we have only about half a dozen records of
supernatural incidents. There were two or three in
the time of Hezekiah,— his healing (2 Kings 20 : 1-7),
the sign on the sun-dial (vers. 8, 9), and his deliverance
from the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19 : 35, 36). King
ITzziah was smitten with leprosy for sacrilege (2 Chron.
26 : 16-19). There were two or three in the Babylonian
captivity, — Daniel's interpretation of dreams (Dan. 2 :
25 ff.), his deliverance in the lion's den (Dan. 6 : 16-23),
the deliverance of the three men in the fire (Dan. 3 :
21-27), and the handwriting on the wall (Dan. 5).
218 THE SUPEEXATUEAL
The second and third of these well typify the condition
of the faithful Jews in the midst of enemies, and would
be well calculated to assure and comfort their hearts
with the feeling that their mighty friend could and
would still protect them. They were very appropriate
to the situation. The interpretation of dreams would
more appropriately be considered in connection with
prophecy. The handwriting on the wall spoke doom
to the kingdom of Babylon, but that doom was closely
connected with their opposition to the people of Je-
hovah and was a means to their rescue later.
The time of Hezekiah was a time of great revival and
return to God after serious defection. The supernatu-
ral acts were all favours to King Hezekiah who was
the prime mover in this return to God. There were
two quiet private favours, the healing of his disease
and the sun-dial sign, and one conspicuous public fa-
vour, the relief by the destruction of the Assyrian
army.
The occasion was certainly important enough to
warrant some display of special friendliness by God
who was so much interested in the return of the people
to friendly fellowship. Hezekiah was the representa-
tive man to whom it was appropriate that the favours
should be shown. And the acts done were quite ap-
propriate also.
Perhaps they were not exactly what we would have
done to exhibit approval under the circumstances, espe-
cially the first two, — the healing and the sun-dial sign.
We would have had something more flashy and recon-
dite. But that was the kind God wanted. For He
ELIJAH 219
considered the homely, sympathetic, human quality of
His kindness the most important thing of all. That
was the thing best adapted to arouse in us the kind of
feelings He wished us to have towards Him.
Thus from beginning to end we see that these special
incidents in the Bible to which we give the name
Miracles have all one character and one motive. They
are all merely acts of God done personally to individ-
uals or to one single nation. The motive of them all
is just to show kindness and friendship to some one
whom God wished to befriend. In every case they
came at an appropriate time when it was important
that such a display of God's personal friendship should
be seen. And in every case the nature of the act was
quite appropriate for the purpose God had in view.
It is all just God the great friend showing practical
friendship to persons He had pledged Himself to be-
friend, and the intention of it all is to invite and draw
us also to enter into that same relation of friendship
with Him.
VI
PEOPHECY
THE next form of the supernatural to consider
is Prophecy. In considering this the main
problem is not how future events could be fore-
told or if it is possible or reasonable that they should
be. Foretelling future events is merely an incidental
detail in prophecy. In our colloquial usage the term
prophecy has come to be confined chiefly to that one
matter of foretelling future events, but the prophecy
of the Bible is something far broader than that. Fore-
telling the future does occur more or less in the proph-
ecies, but it is chiefly for practical effect in warning
and encouragement, and merely incidental in most
cases.
The prophet was a man who professed to speak
something which he had received directly from God.
He claimed that God had put into his mind certain
thoughts which he merely proclaimed to the people.
The essential part of prophecy then was God communi-
cating thoughts to men. If that really occurred then
prophecy was a fact.
It is easy to juggle with words and obscure a defini-
tion. We may say that all truth is really God's
thoughts, that all discovery is merely receiving God's
thoughts or thinking God's thoughts after Him.
220
PEOPHECY 221
Therefore any high, advanced thinking might be called
receiving God's thoughts, and so prophecy. But this
is merely an evasion. In practice we recognize certain
definite ways of getting new thoughts. We may get
new thoughts by perceiving and studying things. We
may get new thoughts by putting our previous thoughts
together and reasoning about them. But we may also
get new thoughts without either of these processes if
some other person has the thoughts or knowledge, and
communicates it to us by speaking, writing or some
other way.
This last is what we mean here with regard to God.
He had a thought that He wished some man to have
and actively communicated that thought to him in the
same sense that another man would communicate his
thoughts to him. The question is, — has God done
that ? Did He do it as He is represented to do it in
the Bible?
Inspiration
While that is what we must consider prophecy to be
if we follow the traditional conception, there is another
somewhat similar process that we ought to consider in
this same connection. We may conceive that God
wishes a man to have a certain thought or conviction.
He does not communicate it to him directly but He
intentionally and specifically brings such influence to
bear upon his mind that by the processes of his own in-
vestigation and thinking he gets that thought or con-
viction.
The influences that God thus brought to bear on the
man's mind might be greater or less, they might be
222 THE SUPERNATURAL
supernatural or all natural in form. This would not
be particularly significant. The only important condi-
tion is that God specifically wishes a given man to get
a certain thought and He takes definite personal meas-
ures of some kind which are instrumental in his getting
that thought. He would not have gotten it without
this special something that God did, and God did that
something specifically for the purpose of causing that
man to get that thought.
This differs from prophecy in the point that God
does not communicate any thought as a thought to the
man, and the man gets no thought that he has not
worked out by his own mind processes. But it re-
sembles prophecy in the point that God wishes the
man to have the given thought and takes definite
special steps to that end so that the man gets a thought
that he would not have gotten if God had not done
what He did to make him get it.
This latter process is what is very commonly con-
ceived as the meaning of the term Inspiration. For
the most part what is said below as to the meaning
and purpose of prophecy would apply equally to this
also.
Many, perhaps, would wish to resolve all prophecy
into a matter of this nature and define it in this way.
They seem to imagine that a process of this kind would
be a less objectionable kind of supernatural than that
which is assumed in the ordinary conception of prophecy
as an actual communication of thoughts by God. It
is possible to conceive that this kind of helpful stim-
ulating and directive influence by God may be going
PEOPHECY 223
on now in the common experience of Christians,
unperceived but none the less real. It would there-
fore by its frequency and present occurrence lay claim
to being a part of natural law and not supernatural
at all.
But it would be altogether a logical blunder to count
this kind of a process less supernatural or easier to
justify than the other actual communication of thoughts
consciously recognized to be received from without and
from God. If this unconscious manipulating, stimulat-
ing and guiding of men's minds is a specific personal
act of God it is most distinctly a supernatural act,
whether it is recognized as such or not. And if it is
done solely to get some truth discovered that men
would not otherwise have discovered, it is a super-
natural act that would be difficult to justify or account
for without impeaching God's competency in the evolu-
tion process.
Mental facts are just as much a part of nature and
just as much controlled by the evolution process and
natural law as physical facts are. Any intrusion or
special manipulating of them is just as supernatural as
if it were visible material things that were being ma-
nipulated. If for instance God brought any influence to
bear personally and intentionally upon the mind of the
Persian king to lead him to permit the Israelites to go
back from Babylon it would be in every respect just
as supernatural as if He by great spectacular plagues
and signs delivered them from the king of Egypt. If
God personally contributed any mental stimulus or
brought any influence intentionally to bear on the
224 THE SUPEENATUEAL
mind of Isaiah to widen his vision and deepen his
insight so that he could read more correctly the signs
of the times and give valuable advice to the people, it
would not be in any respect less supernatural than it
would be for God to make a great voice sound from
the cloud on Mount Sinai speaking the Ten Command-
ments.
The Supernatural Must be Evident in Order
to be Justifiable
It is a naive kind of ignorance which counts that if a
supernatural act can be so sly and inconspicuous as to
slip through without being noticed we must let it go un-
challenged. Keally a supernatural act that was un-
recognized as such or unconsciously received would be
harder to account for and justify than one that was
open and evident. It is precisely through its being
recognized as a supernatural act that it finds its justifi-
cation by becoming a contribution to fellowship. We
have seen that it is impossible to justify any super-
natural act done primarily to improve men's condition
or teach some undiscovered truth or for any other
merely utilitarian purpose since it would impeach God's
competence as Creator. The only ground on which
we can justify and account for any supernatural act is
as an act of fellowship done by God, and in order to
have value as fellowship of course it must be recognized
as a special personal act of God, that is as super-
natural.
A definite communication received and recognized
as being from God, just such as it is traditionally con-
PEOPHEOY 225
sidered the prophets experienced, would be a most
natural and appropriate act of fellowship and so per-
fectly justifiable whether any moral, social or political
benefit came from it or not. But an unconscious and
unrecognized heightening and directing of some man's
thought powers to lead him to discover truths just be-
cause they were of great economic importance would
be an interposition that it would be very difficult to
justify.
Such heightening and directing of men's thought
processes as is assumed in inspiration could indeed be
justified if it was done so as to be evident and was
popularly recognized and believed to be really the work
of God. In that case it would have the same value as
prophecy and thereby be justifiable. Historically just
that kind of help from God has been believed by Chris-
tians to have been granted in connection with the books
of the Bible, and that help so granted has made a
strong impression on men's minds as an act of fellow-
ship. So assuming that such help was really so given
all conditions are fulfilled to constitute it real fellow-
ship and thus fully justify it. But if it had not been
so believed and recognized as a work of God there
would be no grounds on which we could well justify it.
For it is precisely its effect on men's minds that consti-
tutes it fellowship and so justifiable.
The traditional view, therefore, of both prophecy
and inspiration really meets the requirements of sci-
ence and evolution philosophy far better than any of
the modern attempts that have been made to improve
or replace it.
226 THE SUPEKNATUBAL
Didactic Weitings
It is under this latter head, or Inspiration, that we
may consider all the poetical and didactic portions of
the Old Testament, such as the Psalms, Proverbs, Ec-
clesiastes or Job, to be entitled to be called super-
natural. In as far as God was concerned directly or
indirectly in assisting in their production and is frankly
recognized to be so, they are a contribution to the one
great enterprise of fellowship. All that is said about
the miracles or prophecy would apply equally to them.
As far as they teach, warn or inspire men to better
living it is an act of kindness, and an act of kindness
that God was concerned in, and so a contribution of
friendship and fellowship by Him to us.
It is a significant circumstance and unquestionably a
fact that in the use Christians in past generations have
made of these compositions the thought of their origin
being from God has been a paramount factor in the
influence which the writings have had upon them. It
is that which has really carried to them far more
benefit and comfort than they would have received
from the bare intrinsic substance of the things written.
When they were reading them they felt that they were
reading God's word, and that touch with God has
always been the chief value of the Bible to the Chris-
tian heart.
As proof of this we may notice that many of these
same precepts and truths can be found in the writings
of Confucius, Gautama, Epictetus and other religious
teachers and sages, but we have nothing like the same
feeling in reading them there that we have in reading
PEOPHECY 227
them in their setting in the Bible with all the atmos-
phere of divine nearness surrounding them there. His-
torically it has always been the fellowship touch with
God believed to be in them which has really consti-
tuted the greater part of their power and value.
Credibility of Prophecy
We need hardly stop to go into the question of the
possibility of such communication as is implied in
prophecy. One of the startling discoveries of recent
years is the possibility of direct thought transference
from mind to mind independent of physical means.
Naturally a discovery so revolutionary finds many men
still sceptical, as is true also of many other important
scientific facts. But when scores of men in the very
highest rank of scientists declare unequivocally their
belief that the reception of thoughts or mental influ-
ence by one mind directly from another mind is a
demonstrated fact we are at least in good scientific
company when we presume that a man's mind may re-
ceive thoughts equally directly from the mind of God.
We may notice also that in the investigations of this
phenomenon of direct thought transference it is ac-
cepted as a rule that the most favourable condition to
receive such influence is that condition of mind that is
called by such names as " Secondary," " Subconscious "
or the like, and which is seen in hypnotism and in the
spontaneous states of trance, catalepsy vision and the
like. The state of dreaming also is closely allied to
these. And just these states of trance, vision or dream
were the states in which most commonly these prophets
228 THE SUPERNATURAL
professed that they received their communications from
God.
From the standpoint of their possibility or plausibil-
ity we need have no embarrassment therefore about
the prophecies. If we believe in a living, thinking
God, He not only could give these communications to
men, but science, under some such term as Telepathy
or Thought-transference, is just now insisting upon the
existence of parallel or equivalent phenomena occur-
ring now in the field of natural life, occurring moreover
under conditions very similar to those in which these
ancient prophecies were received.
But really the serious objection against the occurrence
of prophecy is not that God could not but that He
would not do such things. Especially if the com-
munications were for practical effect in teaching and
training the people there are most weighty objections
against supposing that God should do a supernatural
act for such a purpose.
The whole wide book of nature is God's teaching.
The whole course of evolution and all the movement of
history is a course of training and discipline. These
are the means that God designed and provided expressly
for the purpose of teaching and training, and wonder-
fully effective means they have proved to be. It is
inconceivable that after providing means so very
efficient to produce these results He should think it
necessary right in the midst of the process to break in
by special interpositions of supernatural teaching and
training to secure the same object.
We have already considered this same question at
PEOPHECY 229
some length with reference to the miracles. We saw
that they could not be justified if given merely to
benefit the world or to certify and attest some teaching.
The miracles all found their justification in their
intrinsic character as acts of kindness done by God to
individuals for the sake of fellowship. It is there also
that we must look for the justification of prophecy.
It is all to be interpreted as fellowship bestowed by
God, and therein it finds its justification and reason-
ableness.
But it may be objected that the very substance of
the prophecy is teaching. That is its intrinsic character.
It would seem here as though God was certainly break-
ing in by a special interposition to do what He had
made full provision for in the machinery of nature.
This would be so if these prophecies stood alone with
this as their only meaning. There would be some
reason for this charge if for instance they had been
given like the Mormon Bible professed to be given,
miraculously written on plates of gold and left for
some one to find and proclaim to the world at large.
Or again to some extent there would be reason for the
charge if these prophecies had not been confined to
Israel but had been given sporadically and independ-
ently to individuals scattered through all the nations.
Place in God's Plan
That very question is often asked. "Why do we not
equally have the same kind of prophecies now ? Why
were these prophecies confined to the one people
Israel? If God really does such things why would
230 THE SUPERNATURAL
He not do them equally for all nations and for people
of the present time as much as for that one ancient
nation long ago ?
Eight there is the essential fact and the key to the
whole problem. These prophecies are not isolated,
independent facts but are parts and necessary parts of
a great movement and system. The specialness of
Israel was an essential feature of the movement. It is
entirely in that they were given to this special people
Israel that these prophecies find their justification.
God did not interpose to super naturally give teaching
or training for the world that the world could not have
gotten otherwise. The real character and genesis of the
prophecies is not that but something else. As an act of
fellowship God had assumed and was carrying forward
a specialized relation of friendship and communion
with this particular nation Israel. In pursuance of that
fellowship He did various appropriate things.
One thing always appropriate for fellowship is
conversation, communicating ideas from one to the
other. We carry on conversation just for the social
touch and fellowship). That is what all the prophecies
are. Of course it does not make it any less essentially
an act of fellowship that the ideas communicated are
profitable, as teaching, training or in some other way.
All God's conversations we may be sure will consist of
matter that is useful and instructive, and yet it is none
the less truly conversation for fellowship's sake. That
is the fundamental purpose for which it was given. It
was not to reveal to men new truths but to make them
feel His presence with them and yearning care for them.
PEOPHECY 231
Conversation Begun at Sinai
At the very beginning of His fellowship with them
as a nation God spoke to them at Sinai with an audible
voice that they could near (Deut. 4 : 12), just as they
would hear the voice of a friend in conversation,
though of course with the majesty and volume befit-
ting the circumstances.
That the words spoken at Sinai were the Ten Com-
mandments is not the important thing, for there was
no new revelation in any of those commandments.
There was nothing in them, at least in the ethical part,
but what had been recognized and enforced as law in all
that region for hundreds of years. What was signifi-
cant was that God was personally speaking to them.
Even though the words He spoke were well known
and recognized principles, we often open conversation
with a friend by some obvious, commonplace remark.
God was so to speak, opening conversation with them
as an act of fellowship. That was the real epoch-
making significance of Sinai.
Was then that conversation stopped as soon as
begun ? Through all the succeeding hundreds of years
in which He still wished them to feel Him in personal
fellowship with them was there no further continuation
of that conversation ?
There are many and obvious reasons why a frequent
repetition of the stupendous voice of Sinai would
be neither appropriate nor helpful to them (Deut.
5 : 23-28 ; 18 : 16). But it would be both appropriate
and helpful if they could have cause to feel that that
conversation was still being carried on and God was
232 THE SUPERNATURAL
still continuously in friendly conversation and social
touch with them, provided it could be done in some
way that would not interfere with the natural normal-
ness of their daily lives.
Can we think of a way that would be more natural
and appropriate and less obtrusive than the way repre-
sented here, namely, by God in a way that we now
know is a natural way by which thoughts can be com-
municated directly from one mind to another, com-
municating thoughts to certain individuals of their
number who in turn passed them on to all the rest.
In other words by this order of prophets and institu-
tion of prophecy, for there seems to have been a suc-
cession of these prophets almost all through their
history.
In this way on God's part the conversation begun on
Sinai was continued, and all down their history the
friendly fellowship of conversation was kept up. In
its right setting we see thus that prophecy was not only
a justifiable thing, but it was a natural and necessary
thing if human fellowship with God is a reality, and
if God in the Biblical movement was exhibiting a great
movement of fellowship carried on in the way that
human fellowship is ordinarily carried on.
Continuous Order of Prophets
We commonly think of the prophets as the six-
teen men who wrote the prophetic books of the
Bible with a few others, such as Elijah, Elisha, Nathan
and Samuel. This is as great a mistake as it would
be to think of Christian preachers as consisting of
PEOPHEOY 233
only a few great men, such as Fenelon, Spurgeon,
Moody and the like, whose published sermons have be-
come classics.
The prophets were an order of religious men some-
what analogous to the clergy of our time. They
flourished at least for many centuries. Keferences to
them in the Bible are frequent either by the term
Prophets or " Sons of the Prophets." They certainly
were in existence in Samuel's time (1 Sam. 19 : 20).
The passage in Deuteronomy 18:15-18 along with
others may be interpreted to mean that the order of
prophets was instituted and continued right from the
time of the founding of the nation, and they were in a
sense the successors of Moses himself. We must notice
also that it is expressly indicated in that passage that
the meaning of these prophets was the same as the
meaning of the voice from Sinai. That voice from
Sinai was too awesome to be the regular method of
communication. The people plead for something
simpler and this order of prophets was given in its
stead (Ex. 20 : 19 ; Deut. 5 : 23 ff.).
When considering the Old Testament miracles the
question naturally suggested itself, if the meaning of
this supernatural regime was fellowship granted by
God to men why was it not more continuous and
frequent ? Three or four groups of a dozen or so of
these miracles or fellowship acts, coming at intervals
of two or three hundred years apart, would not seem
to indicate a very close relation of fellowship on God's
part (cf. page 210).
If we are to consider that the whole Israelite move-
234 THE SUPERNATURAL
ment was a movement to impress God's sympathetic
friendliness, some species of continuous personal inter-
course and fellowship by God with them would seem
to be called for. Just that is furnished by this order
of prophets, and furnished in the most appropriate and
helpful way.
As expressed in the passage in Deuteronomy, the
visible appearance and audible voice of God on Sinai
was too awful and overpowering and neutralized the
desired effect of social friendliness. But by this
method the voice came from a man " of their breth-
ren "just like themselves, though the communications
were from God. This man received the communica-
tions from God in a quiet, unobtrusive way, a way
which we now find to be quite in line with natural
processes, and which at that time was considered ap-
propriate for a communication from God.
All down through the history of Israel we find this
succession of prophets, — of men who were the medium
through which God spoke to the people and kept up
His fellowship of conversation with them. That they
were quite numerous seems to be indicated by the fact
that even in the dark times of apostasy under Ahab
the one hundred of them that Obadiah saved (1 Kings
18 : 13) was only a remnant from the great number
that Jezebel killed. A little later Elijah visits com-
munities of them in Bethel and Jericho (2 Kings 2 :
3-5), and the company in Jericho was so large that
fifty men from them went to seek for the body of the
translated Elijah. Even in Samuel's time they were
so numerous and well known that when Saul acted in
PBOPHECY 235
a peculiar manner the people immediately concluded
that he had become one of them (1 Sam. 19 : 20-24).
Divine Kevelation of Teaching
But was the office of these prophets, as we have
claimed, to afford social touch and fellowship from
God to men? Was not their office really that of
teachers, to reveal useful knowledge and instruction
from God to men, and thus an unnecessary irruption
into the evolution process ?
As has been already noted, social conversation, even
if its main purpose is entirely social friendliness and
fellowship, must be about something. If from a good
and wise man it will likely be something useful. Cer-
tainly conversations or communications from God will
have as subject matter something profitable even though
the purpose that inspired it is entirely the wish to show
social friendliness. Indeed the helpfulness of the con-
versation will just so much more make it an appropriate
act of friendly fellowship.
That it cannot reasonably be considered essentially
an enterprise of teaching is proved by the fact that at
least as regards merely ethical matters of man's con-
duct to man there is very little if any new teaching
given. The things denounced by the prophets as sin
are such things as murder, adultery, drunkenness, theft,
oppression, cruelty, falsehood and the like. All of these
had been recognized as evils by all the nations for ages.
The prophets merely warn and denounce the people for
engaging in these known sins. In all their denuncia-
tions of sin they refer to the evils denounced as al-
236 THE SUPERNATURAL
ready known to be sin, rarely if ever setting forth
any new ethical principle or precept which they com-
mand to be obeyed.
What is new, or at least fresh, is their vivid repre-
sentation of God's attitude towards all these things,
and their bringing to bear all the weight of God's per-
sonality against them. This is the thing that is relied
on to produce the reforming, elevating effect upon the
people, and this is something that lies distinctly within
the sphere of fellowship.
Personal Atmosphere
Almost wherever we take up the prophecies for ex-
amination we are impressed with the fact that the
dominant note is not revelation of doctrine but per-
sonal appeal. There is much reference to ethical and
theological truth indeed, to sins against men and sins
against God, but it is always referred to not as revela-
tion of new principles and new laws, but as reference
to things they knew to be wrong and the mere mention
of which ought to touch them with shame. The whole
force of the appeal depends on the fact that they will
spontaneously recognize these things as wrong, and
that the}r knew or ought to have known that they
were doing wrong when they did them.
But the one most significant thing is the intensely
personal tone that dominates it all. It is the impas-
sioned pleading of a friend with a wayward friend. It
is the protest of slighted friendship. It is the appeal
of a lover for a love that he has a right to expect and
that his heart yearns for. He has lavished his friend-
PKOPHECY 237
ship, favour and care, and Israel does not reciprocate
with answering love and loyalty but chooses the fellow-
ship of other friends and lovers.
Such in substance is the note that is sounded again
and again by almost every one of the prophets, and
which may be counted the characteristic theme of the
whole movement. And a most remarkable feature is
the way that frequently the most severe arraignment
of disloyalty and ingratitude will end up with a dec-
laration of entire forgiveness and restoration of favour,
and this too apparently without anything in the cir-
cumstances to warrant or call for it (cf. Ezek. 16 : 63 ff. ;
Hos. 2:l±ff., etc.).
It is all indeed a revelation in the truest sense. Not
a revelation of doctrines and ethical principles, but a
revelation of the heart of God. It is just such a revela-
tion as ought to have the greatest drawing power to
bring them into trusting fellowship with Him. And
manifestly that is the one great purpose for which it is
given.
It is a great picture of God. And if we will broaden
our minds to look on the picture as a whole without
distracting attention to criticism of the details we must
see that it is the same picture that is presented by the
four Gospels of the New Testament. It is a great
friend pained by the sins and ruin of His loved friends,
pleading with them to reform and return to Him, and
ever breathing the promise of forgiveness and restored
favour and peace. Nor is the feature of suffering
atonement entirely lacking, for in many passages we
can see in God's deep grief and pain over the sins of
238 THE SUPERNATURAL
His people a suggestive parallel of Gethsemane if not
even of Calvary itself.
Severe Prophecies
When we consider the text of many of the proph-
ecies, however, a rather severe difficulty seems to arise.
We have claimed that all the supernatural was a per-
sonal friendly fellowship movement by God to win
men into a state of trusting fellowship with Him. JSut
a large part of the prophecies consists of denunciations
and threats of punishment. How can this be made to
agree with the conception that these prophecies and all
the supernatural are acts of friendship, have their mo-
tive in a relation of personal friendship and are in-
tended to win men to friendship and trust ? Are they
not rather the acts of a moral governor, a supernatural
interposition for the sake of, if not punishment, at least
discipline and government ?
In answer to this we must first remind ourselves that
friendship is not always a matter of smooth words and
flattery. That only is true friendship which can use
severe words and painful messages when they are
necessary and helpful. True friendship must adhere
to the truth. He would be the truest friend to Israel
who would tell them plainly of the sins that prevailed
among the people and the punishments those sins would
surely bring.
It is true indeed that it is the same person who is
speaking in prophecy who is the one that will inflict
the punishment. But even that need give us no diffi-
culty, for we must remember that while that is true
PEOPHECY 239
yet the inflicting the punishment is an entirely sepa-
rate act from the act of giving warning about it, and
that is all that the supernatural prophecy is. That
punishment when He does inflict it will not be part of
His supernatural activity. It will all be a part of nat-
ural law as we have seen. It will be the work of God
as moral governor, and God does not need to resign
His place as moral governor in order that He may
offer to act as a friend. The only supernatural part in
the transaction is the warning and appeal, and that is
not the work of a judge or governor but of a personal
friend.
We must remember that Jesus is declared to be the
one who will judge the world and condemn the wicked,
yet no one questions that His attitude towards all men
is always that of a friend, and He wept over Jerusa-
lem to think of the punishment that was coming on the
people for their sins. It is the same heart that appears
in all the warnings of the prophecies. All through
even the severest denunciations there is evident an un-
dertone of sorrow and pain, as though God Himself
were suffering over His people both for their sins and
for the punishments those sins would bring upon them.
Not all of prophecy, however, is of this severe char-
acter by any means. A large part of the prophecies
consist of comfort, assurances of triumph and bright
pictures of the future for God's people. Moreover the
extant texts of the prophecies must constitute an ex-
ceedingly small proportion of the vast amount of
prophetic utterance by the large body of prophets all
through so many centuries. Those on record are largely
240 THE SUPERNATURAL
prophecies called out by some pressing crisis in the his-
tory, and so more likely to be of this severe, denuncia-
tory nature than the great mass of prophecies given in
more normal, peaceful times.
"We may safely claim, then, that prophecy as well as
miracles is all to be included in that one great regime
of friendly fellowship by God. It is all appropriate to
this which we have considered the main purpose of the
Bible. It is all a service of friendship and fellowship.
The tone of it all is a continuous appeal by God to the
people for loyalty and trust. It is a very necessary
part of that regime as it furnishes just that which such
a special relation of fellowship as God proposed posi-
tively demanded and without which it could hardly
be said to exist, namely, a continuous intercourse of
friendly conversation by God with the people.
VII
NATIONAL HISTORY
THE third division of the supernatural in our
classification comprises the historical parts
and all. the remainder of the Old Testament.
It has been usual to consider this to be supernatural in
the sense that all the writers were inspired or specially
helped and guided by God in its composition. We may
perhaps go beyond this and find a supernatural quality
in the very substance of the history itself.
We have defined the supernatural to be activity of
God personally directed to definite individuals, in dis-
tinction from His general activity in nature, which is
directed to the whole universe impartially. In this his-
tory much of the activity of God is represented to be
of this class, personally and intentionally directed to
certain specific individuals or to a particular nation.
Indeed it is all a story of special treatment by God of
the nation of Israel or of individuals in it. That is the
very essence of the plot of the whole narrative.
In addition to this we find that all the events are
represented as observed from God's view-point. The
events themselves may have been all just ordinary
events such as occurred in all the other nations and are
occurring to men and nations now, but while in ordi-
nary history we see only the human side and human
241
242 THE SUPEENATUEAL
elements, what men did, suffered or desired, in this case
we see more, for we see God having an active part in
these same events. We see God behind and above,
directing and using them all. Especially we see His
plan and intention with regard to them. This possibly
would not make it supernatural within the definition
that we are using here, but it is a feature that has a
similar value in that it gives us a close and familiar
view of God, and thus contributes to the feeling of per-
sonal acquaintance and fellowship with Him.
It is these features of the Book that are the most
important. Indeed in as far as the Bible is to be con-
sidered a book of religious teaching it is these elements
that give it its value. It has been another way of view-
ing and estimating the Book which has led to all the
trouble and embarrassment. On the one hand, men
have considered the Bible heroes as intended to be re-
ligious models and standards, — with very embarrassing
results. On the other hand many have considered the
whole to be but the history of a people of specially
keen religious instincts gradually struggling upward
into the light, practically precluding any supernatural
elements in it at all, and of course abrogating any re-
ligious authority or normative value.
Bible Characters All Normal Men
In making our study of the Old Testament history
then we will practically disregard any special moral ex-
cellence of any of the characters. We will not con-
sider the people of Israel on any different plane mor-
ally from any of the other nations of the time. We
NATIONAL HISTOEY 243
shall not attach any significance specially even to any
higher theological conceptions they may have attained.
The people portrayed, or some of them, may have been
distinctly superior in many respects to the average men
of the age, and their theological outlook may have come
to be very much purer and higher, but that is not the
lesson of the Book.
The real lesson intended to be conveyed is to portray
how God acts and has acted. The men and their char-
acters and beliefs are merely the material which He
uses in showing His activity and His character. The
history is a biography of God. The picture is a picture
of God. It is because a person can only show social
characteristics by having other social beings with whom
he interacts that all these human persons are introduced
as the groundwork of this picture of God.
That the picture may be of the greatest value the
persons to whom God affords the friendly social touch
should be of all classes and all moral grades, the best
of them with many faults and all of them together just
fairly averaging up to the general standards of their
age, as we average up to the standards of our age.
This then is the nature of the history which we shall
take up for study. It is a book of the biography of
God, intended to portray to us how He acts towards
all classes and conditions of men and what is His atti-
tude towards them, and also what is the attitude He
permits and invites from them towards Himself.
In making this study it will not be amiss to remem-
ber that it is the same God who " taught "the lion to
hunt his prey," and made the great sea monsters to
244 THE SUPERNATURAL
tear and devour one another. It is an infinite being
whom we are studying who does His work with refer-
ence to the whole universe and all time. It will clarify
our vision much to thus view Him from the standpoint
of the evolutionist and view the parts in the perspective
of the whole. We must abandon the idea that " God
only loves good little boys." He uses and is in inti-
mate contact with all both bad and good. Moreover
He strictly adheres to His original creative purpose to
leave all things to develop naturally and live their lives
on the level to which they have attained, and He uses
them all just on that level. This is an important prin-
ciple whose neglect has led to many of the difficulties
in reconciling acts attributed to God.
There is a style of interpretation of the Bible in
which God's activities are supposed to be like a stream
of pure water flowing through the turbid, corrupt
stream of man's history, and the people that God uses
for any important enterprise are for that reason as-
sumed to be necessarily superior if not faultless men.
This is not at all the theory of interpretation which we
are following here.
Lessons from God's Dealings with Nations
We may take up first the history as it refers to
nations and second as it refers to individuals. We will
bear in mind that what is important is not the fortunes
of these nations or their reactions with each other but
only God's attitude towards them and His treatment
of them. From this view-point what is the lesson
which the Book brings ?
NATIONAL HISTOEY 245
Our first thought perhaps would be that the lesson
will be God's beneficent rule over the nations, and His
efforts to lead them up to higher and purer national
life. The natural tendencies of men and nations are
towards things that are evil and corrupt. Rulers are
ambitious and selfish and society left to itself soon
becomes cruel and bad. God constantly sits above the
movements and councils of nations, correcting and lead-
ing them into the ways that make for right and prog-
ress. The Bible in showing us God's activity and in-
fluence behind human events will show us that though
unknown to us God is constantly restraining the natural
tendencies of men and nations and infusing higher,
purer elements into the corrupt stream of human
activity.
A little examination, however, will show that this
opinion is not quite correct. While the Bible assumes
that God does have perfect power over all the nations
and all their activities, and while we know that in His
great world plan which we call Nature He is providing
the most efficient apparatus for the restraining of evil
and steady advance of progress, yet the history in the
Bible does not for the most part represent Him as ever
interfering by any supernatural or special control for
that purpose. For a special reason which we have
considered already He does do many acts of helpful-
ness and guidance to one nation, Israel, but that was
not done primarily for the improvement of the world
for improvement's sake but was wholly an exercise of
friendly fellowship by God because it was His plan to
engage in such fellowship for an independent reason.
246 THE SUPERNATURAL
As regards all the other nations of the world it repre-
sents Him as leaving them entirely to follow their own
inclinations and desires unhindered, — subject of course
to the judgments and retributions which natural law
visits on all wrong-doing.
Even in the case of this one nation, Israel, it is not
an effective, coercing control but chiefly counsel, en-
couragements, warnings and moral suasion. It is the
care of a wise friend rather than the manipulation of
the creator God. As a matter of fact the nation did
develop in most respects according to its own natural
tendencies and was not noticeably different from the
other nations of the time and region, as we know from
other contemporary history, and also from a careful
reading of the Bible history itself.
The Bible teaching as to the nations in general seems
to be that He leaves them to develop freely according
to their natural tendencies. He leaves the evolution
process untrammelled to work out the destiny of nations
as well as individuals. That evolution system is His
work, and it is admirably efficient in securing the good
results He wishes. Having established at creation such
a great efficient system He does not interfere with it to
do by other means the work it was designed to do.
Such is the picture the Bible gives us of God in His
attitude towards all the nations of the world. Nations
as well as individuals are free to follow the path of
their own desires, though God's natural laws are just
as free and are certain to visit on them the results of
their acts. Nature and evolution, since they are God's
work, do have very efficient facilities for lessening evil
NATIONAL HISTOEY 247
and bettering national conditions, but this does not
come by arbitrary outside control and special super-
natural interference from God. The Bible gives us no
slothful assurance that some divinity will shape up the
ends which we rough hew, either as nations or as
individuals.
Lessons from God's Dealings with Israel
But this is not the message the Bible was given to
convey to us. It is a true and valid negative inference,
but the real lesson which the national history contained
in the Bible was intended to convey to us is something
positive, and it is all bound up in the history of God's
dealings with this one nation, Israel, as indeed that
constitutes the real body of the history, and the refer-
ences to other nations are merely auxiliary and inci-
dental.
The lesson we are expected to learn from God's
treatment of the nation of Israel is not a political
lesson, it is not a lesson in government nor even in
national morality. It is not primarily a lesson to
nations at all in their national capacity. It is a re-
ligious lesson, as all the other lessons of the Book are,
and it is a lesson directed to us as individuals, just
as all the other lessons of religion are. For religion,
as we now know, is not a matter of masses and of
organization, but primarily a private matter between
the soul of each individual and God.
The reason why the action is with a nation rather than
with an individual is in order to magnify it and write it
large so it will be conspicuous and impressive. But
248 THE SUPERNATURAL
the intention is to influence private individual hearts
by the picture of God thus portrayed. And we may
note also that that is the way it has always been used
by the Church. The experiences of " God's chosen
people" and God's attitude towards them have con-
stantly been used by our fathers as in some form or
other typical of private Christian life now.
What then is the history portrayed ? Briefly stated
the Bible represents that God chose the nation of Israel
to give to them special treatment and favour. He
rescued them from slavery, built them up into a nation,
gave them laws, and gave them His own care as over-
lord and ruler. He assisted them to conquer a land to
dwell in, and enabled them to maintain their integrity
there as a nation for many hundred years.
During all this time He continued in intimate social
contact with them, giving them advice and warning,
occasionally allowing them to fall natural victims to
the aggressiveness of powerful neighbours when they
broke the bond of fellowship by apostasy, but deliver-
ing them by special means when they came back again
into the fellowship of loyalty and trust. This very
briefly is the essence of the history. What is its mean-
ing and its value practically to us ?
In the first place, the primary teaching of it all is
not some great political lesson for the nations and
their rulers, but a personal, private and purely religious
teaching to us as individuals. The meaning of it all is
to so exhibit God in an attitude of intimate personal
kindness as to thereby invite and draw us and all men
into a relation of trust, loyalty and confiding fellowship
NATIONAL HISTOEY 249
with Him. That is the lesson which it is all designed
to convey to us.
The essence of the whole movement is not moral
government but partiality and personal help. It is
not a lesson in government, not even in ethical training,
but personal friendship. According to the Bible repre-
sentation God chose this nation for this special treat-
ment, not for any special moral worthiness in them
either present or prospective. It was entirely a matter
of personal friendship between Him and their great
ancestor Abraham that led to His promising such
special treatment in the first place. All through the
history He carried out that promise distinctly in the
character of a friend showing favouritism and not as
the impartial moral ruler of the world treating all
nations alike.
The conditions which determined the continuance of
that special helpful relation towards them were not
primarily ethical but personal. It was a personal
loyalty towards God as a person which was the one
condition continually insisted upon. It was always
breaking that bond of fellowship by apostasy that was
the cause of the withdrawal of God's protection with
the consequent disasters that came upon them.
Peculiar Attitude Towards Idolatry
It is a significant fact that the one fault most often
and most heavily charged against them was precisely
this fault of breaking the bond of fellowship by apos-
tasy in following other gods. Again and again there
are accounts of their being allowed to fall under op*
250 THE SUPEENATUEAL
pression on account of their sins, but the sin specified is
not ethical wrong, cruelty and crime but worshipping
idols and thus offending against the bond of loyalty
that should unite them to God.
There was plenty of crime and evil in the land, and
in the prophets we do find frequent charges and warn-
ings on account of it. But that is a different matter.
The prophecies, as we have seen, have the nature of
conversations by God with them in which He would
speak to them of anything that was profitable to them,
including their relations to Him as moral governor of
the world. But in the movement of the history, in as
far as it gives the account of God's special dealings to
show His personal attitude towards men, whenever a
punishment is recorded as coming upon them it is
always for a breach of this social fellowship bond,
never for ethical wickedness. And the reason was be-
cause that was the one essential object of all this move-
ment. Their moral conduct was a matter for God in
His character as moral governor, that is in the evolu-
tion process, and the whole matter is in the same cate-
gory as creation and natural law. But here in His
attitude of friend, which is the whole theme of the
Bible history, the one thing which was an offense to be
resented was disloyalty to that friendship, and that is
the one thing for which punishment is portrayed as
coming in the historical movement.
On the other hand it is a very curious and remark-
able fact, and one that has seemed hard to account for,
that while idolatry among the people of Israel was so
constantly denounced and severely punished yet the
NATIONAL HISTOEY 251
other nations which practiced it exclusively were
neither denounced nor punished on account of it.
There are occasional representations in the prophets of
punishments denounced against these other nations, but
it is either for moral sins and crime or else, more often,
for the mere fact of hostility and unkindness to Israel.
While the worshipping of idols in these other nations
is sometimes held up to ridicule as a lesson (cf. Isa.
44 : 9-11), it is never made the subject of severe
denunciations as it so constantly is in Israel. Indeed
the earlier literature seems in some cases almost to
treat that worship of other gods as quite normal and
legitimate in other nations (cf. Judg. 11 : 24). Some
have even claimed that the early Bible teaching is not
really monotheistic but represents Jehovah merely as
the national divinity of the Israelites, recognizing the
existence of the other gods of the other nations.
But all this will become quite reasonable when we
fully recognize what was the object of these denuncia-
tions and of all the Bible discipline. It was not
primarily to teach impressively to the world the unity
of God and the badness of idolatry. It was not
primarily to teach anything to the world. It was all
an immediate practical matter with a distinct concrete
purpose, namely, to win this one specific people into a
relation of loyal friendship and personal attachment to
God.
ISTot teaching truths but cementing a concrete bond
of fellowship between them and Him was the thing
desired, and idolatry was precisely the formal breaking
of that bond on their part. That is why idolatry in
252 THE SUPERNATURAL
them was so severely treated. The one offense that
friendship cannot condone is to repudiate the bond of
friendship itself. That is just what idolatry among
the people of Israel did.
Among other nations it had no such implication. In
the other nations their idolatry was simply looking up
with what little darkened knowledge they had, and
trying to offer some homage to some superior being
that they felt was over them. God Himself was in
fact the one and only superior being that was over
them, and He need not necessarily resent the ignorance
and mistakes of their honest but misguided efforts
(cf. Acts 17 : 29, 30). But idolatry in Israel was quite
a different thing just because there was clear knowl-
edge and because there was that special personal bond
of fellowship between them and Jehovah, a bond which
all God's dealings with them were given for the pur-
pose of strengthening, and which idolatry served to
entirely break and repudiate.
Israel's Friend Rather Than the Moral
kuler of the world
In this history we must keep clearly in mind the dis-
tinction between God as moral ruler of the world and
God as over-lord and " Shepherd of Israel." The two
relations are quite distinct and essentially different.
As moral ruler of the world God must be perfectly
impartial, treating all nations with equal favour. But
here He is represented as extremely partial, as always
treating the Israelites with special favour and giving
them advantages and benefits that He did not give to
NATIONAL HISTOEY 253
any other nation, even giving them at the expense of
the other nations. He is represented as the special
patron of Israel, championing their interests when they
conflicted with the interests of other nations even
though the moral rights of both were equal. He fully
identified Himself with them as against all other
nations. All He required in return was what friend-
ship always demands, namely, that they should re-
ciprocate and maintain a similar loyalty to Him.
As pointed out elsewhere, there was no moral reason
why the Egyptians should not have continued to hold
possession of their serfs, just as any other nation, and
the Israelites themselves later, were allowed to do. It
was merely that God said, " They are my people and I
will deliver them." It was quite in accordance with
the ethics and international law of the era for a nation
to migrate, seize a land to dwell in and drive out the
former inhabitants, provided only they were able.
God, because He wished to favour this people of Israel
as His own people, made them able and helped them to
conquer the land. In the ordinary history of national
life it would have been quite impossible that they in
that most critical location, the continual battle-ground
between Egypt and Assyria, should have long continued
without being blotted out as a nation or merged with
some other peoples in new and still new national units.
But God, because He had identified Himself with them
and chose to do so, kept them intact a separate and
unmixed nation for a thousand years. God plainly did
not act in any of these instances as moral ruler of the
world at all, but as the friendly champion of this one
254 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
small nation, identifying Himself with all their inter-
ests, even in antagonism to the interests of other equally
worthy nations.
Not that He at all abrogated His office of moral
governor, or that He minimized the value of moral
laws and virtue. On the contrary He exalted them,
and in His capacity as over-lord and counsellor did very
much to establish respect for law and lead the people
up to better lives. But the national movements and
the favours bestowed were not based on these consider-
ations but on the one fact that God had identified
Himself with the interests of this nation and meant to
see that they were safe and successful as long as they
reciprocated the friendship.
The lesson to us of the national history then is not a
lesson directed primarily to our national life, either to
its politics or ethics, or even to its relations to God. It
is rather a private lesson to us personally as individuals.
Its lesson is precisely the same as the lesson of God's
dealings with individuals, only magnified to make it
more conspicuous. It is just the same as the one lesson
of all the Bible, and entirely a religious lesson. It is
simply a great picture of God identifying Himself with
specific men in sympathetic friendship and fellowship.
It is simply a great movement to inspire in us a recip-
rocal feeling of trust, friendship and fellowship with
God.
YIII
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS
WHEN we pass to the history as it deals with
individuals we are coming to something
that seems to touch us more closely. "We
can see more easily how it has bearing on our own lives.
We can see there more evidently what attitude God
may be expected to have towards us as individuals, and
how we may feel towards Him.
As we take up this topic perhaps our first thought
would be that the message is a message, if not of fear,
at least of sternness and awe. The Old Testament
represents God as a holy being with an intense hatred
of sin. The movement is full of punishments of sin.
The object is to arouse in us an appropriate fear of
God's judgments and a zeal to live righteously before
Him. It is a common estimate that the New Testa-
ment teaches God's love but the Old Testament was
intended to teach His justice, righteousness and pun-
ishment of sin.
If by sin we mean crime and wrong between man
and man that estimate is not entirely correct. How
many instances are there in the Old Testament where
a man received supernatural punishment from God on
account of moral sins? Punishments there were in-
deed, but as in the case of the nation, the cause of the
punishment was almost always something that im-
255
256 THE SUPERNATURAL
pinged upon the personal relation of loyalty towards
God. In other words it was offense against the bond
of friendship itself that caused the punishments. More-
over in the great majority of cases there was no super-
natural infliction of punishment at all, but merely
when the person broke the bond of friendship God
withdrew the protection of that friendship and allowed
him to fall under some natural evil impending over
him.
There are some cases that at first seem to be an ex-
ception to this. Eli's sons were morally wicked, and
on that account God predicted their violent death
(1 Sam. 2 : 27-36). But even in doing so He was at
pains to declare that it was not merely the immorality
as such that brought the punishment, but because as
priests they brought contempt upon the service of God
and thus offended against the personal relation of God
to the people.
Again in the case of Ahab, after he had murdered
JSTaboth and seized his vineyard the prophet Elijah
comes to him and denounces his violent death and the
destruction of his house (1 Kings 21 : 17-29). But
from the words of the denunciation, as well as from
the fact that substantially the same denunciation had
been made before, it is evident that the murder was
rather the occasion than the real cause of the denuncia-
tion. And when he acknowledged God and repented
God lightened the punishment. Doubtless his repent-
ance was chiefly terror at the threatened punishment.
Yet it was a real acknowledgment of God and was so
accepted.
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 257
But more than that, in both cases the punishment
was not a supernatural punishment of God but was
merely a natural calamity that came upon them. All
that it is represented that God did supernaturally was
to warn them of it by a prophet and point out that it
was really a punishment for their sins.
God does denounce immorality and crime all through
the Bible, and warn men of the punishment that will
come on them for it. But that is quite a different
thing from punishing a man supernaturally. Such
warning is really a kindness. Punishment of moral
wrong is a part of natural law. It is merely a fact,
and it is kindness to warn us of a fact. It is merely a
fact that gravitation draws, fire burns and poison kills.
That penalty follows the infraction of law either phys-
ical, psychical or moral is merely a fact. It is an
arrangement that the Creator established from the
beginning as part of the great evolution system. It is
kindness in God to remind us of that fact, and even to
use most urgent means to impress it upon us, as He
does so often in the Bible.
In His great enterprise of fellowship God in talking
to men must talk about something important. He
might have talked to us about the composition of the
stars, or taught us how to manufacture radium and
construct aeroplanes. But in doing so He would have
deprived us of the great pleasure and discipline of dis-
covering those things ourselves. Instead His talk is
chiefly on the plane of moral principles which we al-
ready know, though He adds the whole weight of His
personality and of the bond of friendship between us
258 THE SUPEKNATURAL
to try to get us to feel their truth and benefit by it, —
certainly a most appropriate form of conversation be-
tween a kind creator and His developing and independ-
ent-minded children.
Nature of the Supernatural Punishments
In almost all the cases where God inflicted what
might be called a supernatural punishment the offense
was something personal to Himself, such as breaking
some administrative or ceremonial rule. Nadab and
Abihu were killed for breaking the ceremonial rules
(Lev. 10 : 1-2). Korah and his companions were killed
for defying the administrative rules (Num. 16 : 25-35).
We may include the man killed for violating the newly
promulgated Sabbath rule (Num. 15 : 32-36), for the
punishment was specifically ordered by God. Uzzah
was killed for breaking a ceremonial rule (1 Chron. 13 :
9, 10). Jeroboam's hand wras withered for a presumptu-
ous wrong act of worship (1 Kings 13 : 1-6). The fifty
soldiers were killed for despising God's representative
(2 Kings 1 : 9-12). Uzziah was stricken with leprosy
for infringing the ceremonial regulations (2 Chron. 26 :
16-19). Even the leprosy inflicted upon Gehazi
(2 Kings 5 : 27) was evidently not merely because he
told a lie but because he thereby tended to tarnish the
sacred office of his master as prophet of God.
Unquestionably there must have been frequent cases
of exaggerated crimes, of violence, cruelty and injustice
all through the history that might have been held up
as examples by supernatural punishment, if God had
wished to do so. The fact that He does not do so, and
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 259
that there is all this long list of cases where He inflicted
supernatural calamity for offenses personal to Himself
must have some significance.
If God's object in all the movement recorded in the
Bible was by giving friendship to men to draw them
into a relation of friendship to Himself, then this mean-
ing is quite apparent. It is quite natural for friendship
to resent specially any affront to the person or anything
that despises and breaks the bond of friendship. It
may patiently tolerate all other kinds of evil, but that
is fatal.
We may notice also that when He does inflict these
supernatural calamities for breach of fellowship it is
always done in a way and in a setting such as to make
it as conspicuous as possible, quite in contrast with the
miracles of help and mercy, which are often most quiet
and inconspicuous. The meal was multiplied and the
son raised in the obscure home of a widow in Sarepta
(1 Kings 17 : 14-25). The oil was multiplied for a
prophet's widow (2 Kings 4 : 1-7). There was a resur-
rection at the prophet's grave (2 Kings 13 : 21). The
chariots of fire were seen only by Elisha (2 Kings 2 : 11).
Help was given under the juniper tree in the desert
(1 Kings 19 : 5-8). These and other acts of like kind
were all done in private, and intended to impress God's
sympathy with the humblest and accessibility to the
private individual.
But Uzzah is struck down in the great royal pro-
cession (1 Chron. 13 : 9-10). Jeroboam's hand is with-
ered at a great national ceremony (1 Kings 13 : 1-6).
King Uzziah is stricken with leprosy in the temple at
260 THE SUPEKNATTJKAL
a great religious ceremony (2 Chron. 26 : 16-19). Both
Korah and his companions and the priests Nadab and
Abihu were smitten under circumstances of the greatest
possible publicity (Lev. 10 and Num. 16). It all looks
as though God were trying to accomplish the greatest
amount of salutary warning with the smallest possible
expense of suffering.
But not all of God's special dealings with individuals,
by any means, were of this severe character. By far
the greater number of incidents represent Him in an
attitude of kindness and favour. Even in cases where
punishment seemed urgently called for He is more often
portrayed as patient and lenient and seeking to delay
or remit the punishments entirely. Moreover if God
regarded the personal bond of covenanted fellowship
between us and Himself as so precious that the only
punishments He did personally inflict either on indi-
viduals or on the nation were for acts that despised or
broke that bond, that should be to us a ground rather
of hope than of fear, for jealousy is considered to be a
sign of especial love.
Men of Low Social Level
When we turn then to the other side to study the
acts of favour and kindness we find them bestowed
upon all classes and grades of people.
One of the significant features of the Old Testament
is the way it represents God in familiar comradeship
with all sorts and conditions of men, and as using them,
even some of the most unlikely of them, in some of His
most important enterprises. What we might call " The
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 261
fellowship of service " is the highest kind of honour
that He could offer to an active, earnest man, and it is
remarkable on what low classes of people He bestowed
that great honour.
This is something that it is very hard to justify on
the theory that God in the Bible is represented as
moral ruler, rewarding men for their virtue or bringing
into prominence those that are to be models for the
world. But it is all clear and plain when we recognize
that the Bible was not given to be a handbook of
ethics but to picture God forth as the friend of men of
all classes. In the Old Testament as well as in the
New, He came " not to call the righteous but sinners "
and to be the friend of those that need Him most.
Take the character of Jephtha (Judg. 11 : 1-12 : 7),
one of the judges that God used for a great work. He
was an illegitimate son, and stung by the obloquy it
brought upon him he went away off to the frontier re-
gions and became a bandit, much such a character as
" Jesse James " or " Francisco Villa," perhaps. He
was rough and harsh by nature, and even after he had
risen to favour he killed his only daughter on account
of a foolish, rash vow that he had thoughtlessly made.
Is that the kind of man the Bible would have us be-
lieve God approves ? Are we to take that as a char-
acter we are encouraged to imitate ? It is hard to see
how we can avoid some such implication if the Bible is
intended chiefly as an ethical guide and to furnish us
examples for imitation. There is not one word given
in the record to express disapproval of any feature of
his character or acts. He is used by God in a most
262 THE SUPERNATURAL
important service, and is raised thereby to a position of
the highest honour in the state.
Or take for another example Samson (Judg. 13-16), a
great, hulking giant, sensual and dull of wit, whose
forte was to jest and feast and slaughter men. And
yet he stands in the lime-light of God's service, as
prominent as any prophet or saint, his birth announced
by an angel and his name engraved among the great
deliverers of Israel.
Are we to suppose that this teaches God's special ap-
proval of that kind of character in men ? Is he to be
taken as a model, and are we to think that by acting as
he did we shall be specially pleasing to God ? What
useful ethical or theological lesson can we learn from
such a character and such a history ?
It is hard to see how we can justify, not to say re-
ceive profit from, the Bible accounts of such men in
God's service on the view that the Bible is primarily
intended to teach us ethics and depict God as the moral
ruler of the world, or indeed on any other view than
the one we have assumed here, that it is intended
chiefly to teach us that God receives and fraternizes
with any one of any character that is willing to frat-
ernize with Him. It is the same attitude as that nota-
ble statement of the New Testament : " This man re-
ceiveth sinners and eateth with them " (Luke 15 : 2).
He is meeting men as friend and not at all as judge or
moral ruler. Very imperfect men need friends just as
much as perfect ones do, — if there be any such. And
the contact of a good and noble friend will be as bene-
ficial to them as it would be to the better man.
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 263
It is just God's relation to such characters as these
that teaches one of the most important lessons for us.
It is a lesson the Church has largely forgotten, or has
failed yet to learn. Perhaps it is our recent neglect of
the Old Testament as a religious guide that is the cause
why this lesson has not been taken to heart in this
great sociological age.
For there are large numbers of men of corresponding
character among us to-day. They swear. They get
drunk. They lead coarse, uncouth lives,— chiefly per-
haps because they were born and brought up in that
kind of an environment. Christians consider them out-
side the pale of all church association. If Jesus were
to come among us again, and we were to see Him
spending days and nights in the company of such men
and sending them upon important missions, we would be
almost as much astonished and scandalized as the Jewish
Pharisees were. These Old Testament stories show us
that such men may be just as near to the compassion
and the friendship of God as some of us whose charac-
ters are of a slightly lighter shade of gray.
With all their coarseness and low ethical standards
they were at least responsive to God's advances and
loyal. God can do something with that kind of a man.
The more he needs it the more ready God is to give
him friendship and use him in something good. These
Old Testament stories do not teach us that such men
are to be our ethical models, but they do teach us that
they are our brothers, and that God does not shun them
as we do.
Salvation indeed will not mean as much to a man of
264 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
that low grade as it will to a man of a higher, finer
nature. He will only get what his low, impoverished
nature is able to receive from the fellowship of God,
and a man of higher, finer nature will get immeasura-
bly more out of that same fellowship. But he can have
it just as well as the more highly developed man can,
for God is just as willing to give it to him, or to any
one who will receive it and respond to it.
Haesh and Cruel Men
Another class of men whose conduct conflicts with
our modern standards somewhat is such men as Joshua,
Jehu, Saul and the like. They were warriors, ruthless
and cruel often. As their actions do not square with
the Christian precept to "Love your enemies" and
" Do good to all men," it is questioned how those ac-
tions could have been actions directed and approved by
God.
As for Joshua we must remember that he was part
of a great natural movement which God was using to
work a favour to this nation Israel. At that time it was
as normal for a tribe or nation that needed territory to
seize it where they could and drive out the former
holders, as it was for the Americans to take the western
prairies away from the buffalo and deer. Whether it
was ethically right or not is a question we need not
raise at all, for God does not even now wait till all the
plans and details of their enterprises are perfect and
pure before He takes any part in the direction of men's
affairs. He takes men as they are, — and He takes
wolves as they are, — and He uses the normal acts of
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 265
them both to work out wise purposes both in nature
and in what we call Grace.
Joshua being such a man as he was, and engaged in
an enterprise in which according to the standards of
international law of that day it was perfectly normal
that he should be engaged, God stood by him as friend
and helper, just as He stood by Cromwell, "Washington,
Dewey or Togo, in great cruel undertakings that yet
wrought out great good results to men.
Very much the same was true also in the case of Jehu
(2 Kings 9-10). Many of his actions were cruel and
treacherous. But they were all quite normal and in
accord with the accepted standards of his day. Again
it is not relevant to ask whether they were ethically
right. He was such a man and did such things as were
to be expected of a man in his age, and being so, God,
when He was so inclined, saw nothing to hinder His
standing by him as friend and using him.
In both these cases, also in the cases of Jephtha and
Samson, we must note that they were loyal and faith-
ful to God. Whatever were their other offenses they
did not offend against the bond of friendship and fellow-
ship. In all this Bible movement that is the one funda-
mental and essential matter. Not that morals and
character are not extremely important, but simply that
they are not the primary theme and object of the Bible
any more than political economy is the primary theme
of an algebra for instance. The one fundamental pur-
pose of all the Bible movement is to win men into the
state of loyal friendship and fellowship with God.
That therefore is the one condition that must deter-
266 THE SUPERNATURAL
mine God's attitude towards any man and His use of
him.
And so we see in the case of Saul (1 Sam. 9 : 31) the
same proposition illustrated from the reverse side.
Saul was in many respects an estimable young man
when God chose him. His faults were not especially
on the side of aggression and cruelty. Indeed in one
case his course was less cruel than the punitive pur-
pose of God called for (1 Sam. 15). But his one fault
was precisely offense against the loyalty which the fel-
lowship bond towards his over-lord Jehovah called for.
For that offense he was rejected, and God withdrew
His friendship and alliance from him. He also de-
clared that David whom He would put in his place was
" A man after my heart who shall do all my will "
(Acts 13 : 22 ; 1 Sam. 13 : 14).
Thus from both sides we have illustration of the fact
that the motive of the Bible history is not ethical but
personal and social. It is the purpose of all the move-
ment to try to get men to reciprocate the relation of
pledged friendship which God offers. Those that do
so are the ones that God uses and can use. It is offense
against that relation that is the one cardinal fault that
is fatal. That is the one lesson that is intended to be
impressed by these stories of Joshua, Jehu, Saul, Ehud,
Shamgar, Jephtha, Samson and others, whose char-
acters and actions lack much of measuring up to the
level of the ethical standards of our day.
Along with this is the other lesson that no man is so
rough and coarse as to be beyond the pale of God's
sympathy and even of His companionship and use.
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 267
He gives that sympathy and companionship most gladly
to those that need it most. The God of the Old Testa-
ment no less than the Christ of the New is really
" The Sinner's Friend."
God's Companionship with Good Men
"We will find this same principle of Bible interpreta-
tion to be equally valid with reference to God's rela-
tions with other men in the history whose lives were
on a higher plane, and whose characters and conduct
were nearer to our modern ideals. There is quite a
long list of such men, of varying goodness and of vary-
ing prominence in the history. Abraham, Joseph,
Moses, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah,
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and a large number of
greater and lesser men both in public and private life.
It has been considered easier to make the records of
these men profitable on the basis of ethical teaching
and example. All of them had some admirable points
worthy of imitation, and it is easy to pass over their
faults with the mere remark that all men are fallible.
Yet even the lives of such men as these become much
more profitable to us when viewed merely as the back-
ground of God's activities in friendliness and fellow-
ship. Even with such men the vivid view of God's
friendly social attitude towards them is far more use-
ful to us than any benefit we can derive from the mere
goodness to which they themselves attained.
In saying this we are not discovering something new
but merely expressing what the Christian consciousness
has always felt in contact with these stories, but has
268 THE SUPERNATURAL
perhaps not always clearly formulated and asserted
Abraham is called " The Father of the faithful " and
his faith has considerable value in making up our the-
ological propositions. But to us personally in our re-
ligious lives there is far more comfort and inspiration,
and far more practical benefit that comes from viewing
the beautiful relation of familiar, personal friendship
which is depicted as existing between God and him.
The story of Joseph, the temptation he resisted and
the unjust suffering he patiently endured (Gen. 39 ff.),
may seem a moral lesson adapted to bring us great
benefit. But as a matter of fact how much help or in-
spiration do we feel for instance in reading " The Story
of the Two Brothers," a singularly parallel experience
related in ancient Egyptian legends, only without the
hovering presence of God which infuses all this account
and gives it its moving power.
It is God choosing, training and using Moses in a
great work which is the picture that chains our im-
agination and influences us. It is God like a genial
father calling the little boy Samuel to His side and
talking to him (1 Sam. 3 : 1-14), and continuing the
same familiar friendly attitude towards him all through
his eventful life, which is the picture that influences
us, rather than anything in the incidents and character
of that long life.
It is God and David, — God's delight in the humble,
manly development of the young man, God protecting
and leading him, God opening the way before him and
giving him success and power, likewise God chastening
him sorely when he fell into sin, and God receiving
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 269
hira back chastened and repentant into His favour
again, God his ally, companion and confidential friend,
inspiring to noble thoughts and deeds as well as com-
forting in times of disaster and sorrow, — this is the
picture that is engraved deep in our imaginations
rather than merely David the boy hero, just king and
mighty conqueror.
With the prophets, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and the
rest, God bulks as the principal factor in the incidents
recorded, and the prophets are merely His instruments
and mouthpieces. With the kings, such as Hezekiah,
Josiah, Asa and the others, the narrative for the most
part only aims to give their history in its relation to
God, how God prospered them when they were faith-
ful, and when they grew disloyal or slack in their
allegiance allowed disaster to have its unhindered way
upon them. Much the same is true also of all the
other minor characters. Their history is given chiefly
with reference to some act of mercy, kindness or guid-
ance that God gave to them, and it is God's part in the
case that is always the most important feature, together
with their personal obedience and loyalty to God.
The case of Solomon is an interesting one. In the
beginning there was a very beautiful relation like that
of father and filial son between God and the new king.
God raised him to great power and gave him wonder-
ful wisdom, and Solomon built the magnificent temple
to his God. But in his later years this loyal fealty be-
came clouded (2 Kings 11). Other deities were allowed
to have some of the honour that should have been given
to God alone. As the direct result of this, we are told,
270 THE SUPERNATURAL
the latter days of the king were troubled and harassed,
and after his death more than half the kingdom was
swept away from his house entirely.
We may note that the record makes the sole cause
of these disasters to Solomon's house disloyalty and
breaking the bond of fealty to Jehovah, though from
the after complaints of the people to Eehoboam
(1 Kings 12:4), there seems to have been a good deal
of oppression of the people by him and other sins that
might have been made the reason for the disaster if the
book had been written with an ethical purpose. And
yet the record cites only the defection from Jehovah
as the cause of it all.
In the case of the good kings Asa and Joash almost
the same thing is recorded. Disasters came in the lat-
ter part of their reigns, and it is all attributed to their
defection from Jehovah (2 Chron. 16 : 7-12 ; 24 : 15-25).
Some ethical evils are mentioned in both cases, but
they are treated as minor matters compared with this
one fact of breaking the personal bond with Jehovah.
Attitude Towakds Bad Men
We will find that the same principle holds good
when we turn to the other side, to the history of indi-
viduals of bad character. Even where calamities or
punishments are recorded they are never merely for
morally bad conduct, and never merely for punish-
ment's sake. They are always for some personal of-
fense against God's personal friendly bond with Israel,
and wholly given as a means for strengthening that
bond.
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 271
The case of Pharaoh may be considered typical.
The New Testament makes the remarkable statement
that God raised up Pharaoh expressly for the sake of
visiting that punishment upon him (Eom. 9 : 17). Of
course then it could not have been punishment for pun-
ishment's sake, and it could not have been moral sin
that God led him into that he might be punished. It
was merely that God so arranged and led that Pharaoh
should come into violent opposition to the personal
plans of favour He was carrying out for His friends
Israel, and the woeful consequences which that must
inevitably entail was a valuable object lesson that
would stimulate the loyalty of His people Israel and
lead them to closer friendly trust.
More significant is the great number of cases where
punishment was merited or even threatened and after-
wards lightened or remitted. It begins with Cain, that
first great criminal, whom God dealt with leniently
and compassionately (Gen. 4: 9-15), or indeed with the
first parents themselves, whose threatened punishment
was lightened, with the promise of ultimate complete
deliverance (Gen. 2 : 17 ; 3 : 1-19). And so all on down
through the history, the attitude of God towards the
bad man is not that of the impartial, inflexible judge,
but on the other hand, as far as direct acts are con-
cerned, He appears more often as mitigating some de-
served punishment or ignoring offenses entirely and
going right on in friendly help to the offending person.
Jacob did a very disgraceful and wicked act in de-
ceiving his father to obtain a formal blessing (Gen. 27),
and although we see that by the nemesis of nature it
272 THE SUPEENATUEAL
was the cause of great suffering to him, yet God in His
personal activity as pictured in the narrative does not
take any notice of it at all. He allowed the blessing
which the deceived father had pronounced to stand
good, and confirmed it by the miraculous vision of the
ladder (Gen. 28 : 12-17). This would be intolerable in
a moral ruler, but in the movement of the history God
is not acting as moral ruler at all, but entirely in the
attitude of friend and partisan, and it is the fit office
of a friend to continue his friendship and help irrespec-
tive of the character and acts of the one befriended.
He was his friend because Jacob had desired that
friendship, and had been at pains to get himself made
the heir of a special regime of friendship which God
from the time of Abraham was bestowing specially on
a specific line of persons (Gen. 25 : 31-34). It was to
emphasize the importance and absoluteness of that
compact of friendship that God for its sake entirely
overlooked the faultiness of the man who had prized it
and sought to have it. Instead of a blunder of the
narrator this little incident really contains a miniature
epitome of the gospel of salvation, namely, God be-
friending the unworthy who trust in Him.
God is not represented as making any hint of pun-
ishment when the brothers acted so cruelly to Joseph
and deceived their father (Gen. 27:18-35) or when
Simeon and Levi murdered so many innocent men at
Shechem (Gen. 24 : 25-28). The story of the Danites'
perfidy is given without any hint of punishment (Judg.
18 : 14r-26). Kehoboam was saved from part of the
disaster of his senseless tyranny for the sake of the
GOD AND INDIVIDUALS 273
friendship to David (1 Kings 11 : 32). Manasseh was
very cruel as well as apostate, but just as soon as he
repented of his apostasy and looked to God he was for-
given and reinstated in favour (2 Chron. 33 : 12-13).
The Old Testament Gospel
Such and of such a nature is the story of God's deal-
ings with men as recorded in the Old Testament. It
is not the story of men slowly overcoming their faults
and rising to higher levels of virtue. That is not what
is portrayed nor what is intended. No more is it the
story of a just and omniscient God watching over the
conduct of men, punishing their sins and rewarding
virtue. Sins are passed over in a way that would be
inexplicable as the administration of a just moral ruler,
and quite as often the virtuous and noble are allowed
to meet with the severest trials. The intention must
be to portray God in another light entirely.
The whole picture of God in His dealings both with
good men and bad is that of a great wise friend using
every means to build up a relation of friendship. With
the bad He is lenient, forgiving if there is any plausible
pretext, and ever seeking by warning and kindness to
win them to better things. With the good He meets
and associates in a most beautiful relation of congenial
fellowship, which makes us feel that He can be to us
also the sympathetic friend and confidant our hearts
long for. He does not hold Himself aloof from any
because of character or culture. Even for the doubtful,
the weak, the rough and uncultured He has a service and
freely gives them His companionship and confidence.
274 THE STJPEENATUEAL
The picture is not a different one from that of the
Gospels but the same. It is the same God with the
same heart of patience and forbearance, ever yearning
over His wayward friends, warning, encouraging, coun-
selling, calling them back to the shelter of His care.
Keally in some respects the Old Testament is a more
practical gospel even than the New. The New Testa-
ment presents the grace of God in ideal form and on
very much higher levels. But the Old Testament pre-
sents that same grace and kindness in homely operation
among just the kind of dull, selfish, exasperating hu-
manity that still makes up the great world of practical
life. The New Testament is the Gospel of the King-
dom of Heaven but the Old Testament is that same
gospel as it practically works out in this sordid old
world in which most of us are still living.
PART III
The Christ
THE INCAKNATION
WE now come to what has always been con-
sidered the most important part of the
Bible, and unquestionably the center of our
whole religious system. The New Testament gives a
record of the life of Jesus. It records that after a life
of something over thirty years He died on a cross, three
days later rose alive from the grave, and soon ascended
into heaven. It records that during the last three
years of His life He went about the country preaching
" The Kingdom of Heaven," healing the sick and doing
other miraculous acts of kindness. It declares that
this Jesus was a divine being, " The Son of God."
What meaning are we to give to this great event ?
How are we to coordinate it with all the rest that we
have found in the Bible revelation of God ? Of course
we are taking the record at its face value just as it
comes to us, and are accepting every claim that it
makes as to the character and acts of Jesus.
It is one of the common mistakes of interpretation
to try to confine the whole of a great event all to one
formula. This event being such as it is represented to
be is much too great to have only one meaning and one
value. We may expect it to have many values and
many meanings. And yet, while that is so, it is legiti-
277
278 THE SUPERNATURAL
mate to try to find what is the one most fundamental
meaning, and what was the central purpose that
caused it.
Its apparent meaning and value to us will vary ac-
cording to the view-point from which we consider it.
If we consider it from the view-point of our needs as
sinners in a sin-cursed world we will call Jesus the
Saviour, and consider His life and death a great sacri-
fice by which He redeemed us from death and secured
for us Eternal Life.
This conception is unquestionably correct from that
view-point. Jesus does save us from death and give
us eternal life. He expected and intended to do so
when He came into the world. To us that is a fact of
immeasurable importance, and it is a fact that has the
greatest efficiency in touching men's hearts and attract-
ing them to Jesus. The Church is entirely right in
making that the most conspicuous part of its great
gospel appeal to the world. And we are right in
making it the ground of supreme love and devotion to
Jesus.
Anything we may say here must not be construed as
implying that Jesus is not a Saviour, or that our Chris-
tianity is not to us a gospel of salvation from sin and
death. But because that is the greatest value of the
fact to us does not prove that it is necessarily the most
important meaning of the fact itself intrinsically.
Certainly that cannot be counted its primary motive.
We need hardly pause to remind ourselves again how
impossible it would be to justify any such object as that
as the primary motive of a supernatural act by God.
THE INCAKNATION 279
We have repeatedly noted that it would be inconsistent
with God's infinite competence in His original great act
of creation to conceive that He had to later interfere
by a supernatural interposition to secure some improve-
ment not originally provided for. Much more would
it be so if it was to repair some ruin that had developed
or restore something that had gone astray.
We must view this great fact in the light of all that
went before it in that long working of this same God
to which we give the name Evolution Process, and we
must give it some interpretation and some purpose
which is consistent with all the rest of that great proc-
ess and an integral part of it.
The Fact of the Incarnation
From that point of view we must see that the most
significant thing is the fact itself. The most important
thing is the fact that God became man, that the infinite
being who transcends our highest powers of thought
placed Himself on the same plane and under the same
limitations as one of the little creatures He had made.
Not the Atonement but the Incarnation is the great
pregnant fact which we must count as central. If we
have gotten even a faint conception of the immeasurable
greatness of God we will feel that this becoming man
is such an exceedingly great fact as to overshadow
everything else associated with it. The great fact of
Christ is the Incarnation.
One reason that we have not heretofore been suffi-
ciently impressed with the surpassing greatness of this
fact is because in the traditional theology we have been
280 THE SUPERNATURAL
so dazed by the majesty of its setting that we have
attempted to interpret it in terms that really did not
contain it. We have said that the divine being merely
took into union with Himself a human soul and body
and caused it to go through the experiences of suffering
and death that we saw in Jesus. This in itself would
be an act of no great magnitude, and might be merely
a minor item of the preparation for some greater work.
More recently we have come to feel that this does
not fill the conditions represented, and under various
names and theories we have begun to insist that in
some way the divine being Himself became the man,
and that the soul of this man was none else than the
divine being Himself. But the complacency which we
have inherited from the older conception is still strong
upon us, and the enormous significance of this new
meaning is slow in coming to full realization in our
feelings.
Many men indeed, under the influence of the scien-
tific conception of God's greatness, have been so im-
pressed with that feature that they have felt unable to
believe a real Incarnation, and so have challenged the
divinity entirely. But the great body of Christians,
while realizing that we must meet the problem of how
it could be possible and what adequate and suitable
reason there could be for such a fact, still insist that it
did take place. If it did take place certainly it was an
event of such immeasurable greatness that the fact it-
self must be considered the matter of chief significance,
and from that standpoint we must seek its interpreta-
tion.
THE INCAKNATION 281
Possibility of the Incarnation
The problem of how such a thing as the Incarnation,
God becoming man, could be possible, need give us no
particular anxiety. While we can perhaps come no
nearer solving it than we can any of the common
problems of the genesis and growth of our own souls,
yet it does not now present to our minds any of the
contradictions that it seemed to present a generation
ago. With the dogmatism of ignorance we used to
make various rigid definitions of the nature of mind
and soul, of such a character as to preclude the pos-
sibility of much that is implied in the Incarnation.
Now with more wisdom we have come to realize that
we do not know nearly as much as we supposed in re-
gard to that matter.
Many recent discoveries and deductions in psychology
have tended to very materially alter and expand our
conceptions of the nature of soul or life and of what it
can do. For instance, the familiar fact of ordinary
generation, the soul or life of the child emanating from
the soul or life of its parents, is really a fact which
carries very radical implications as to the nature and
possibilities of a soul.
Or take another fact of the same general import.
We find that though there is a life-consciousness
common to our whole body yet every separate cell of
our body has such an independent endowment of life
that it can continue to live, grow and execute its
ordinary functions when completely severed from the
body. This it can do not only when grafted into some
other body but even entirely separate and alone.
282 THE SUPEENATUEAL
Even more suggestive is the well-known phenomenon
of " Multiple Personality," where a single man has two
or more distinct streams of thought, consciousness and
volition, as independent of each other apparently as if
it were two distinct persons that were doing the acting
and thinking.
These and other facts have seemed to demonstrate
that soul or life is a very different kind of entity from
what it was once supposed to be. Consciousness and
personality are not the very essence of the soul, as they
were formerly assumed to be. Not only can a single
soul develop into various kinds of plurality, but the
same soul or life is capable of simultaneously carrying
on within itself two or more streams or syntheses of
consciousness independent of each other. The soul is a
great efficient something, and it has ability to carry on
acts and to effect or experience consciousness, but
neither the acts nor the consciousness are the essence
of the soul itself. They are both alike merely func-
tions, or things that it does. And the same soul may
have going on at the same time two or more, not only
of the streams of acts but of the streams of conscious-
ness as well.
Such facts as these have led us to see the danger of
negative dogmatism. They have made us see that the
nature of the soul or mind, and its capability may be
something far greater and more versatile than we had
supposed. They have made us feel that it may not be
at all impossible for an infinite divine mind to function
in a variety of different forms and different capacities,
indeed in as many manners and forms as it may choose.
THE INCAKNATION 283
For that is what we must consider that Incarnation
would be. It would be the mind of God functioning
within the limitations, capacities and experiences usual
to an ordinary human mind. It does not mean chang-
ing His substance and becoming composed of other
substance. It does not necessarily mean His ceasing
to be all that He was before or ceasing to carry on all
the other functions that He was carrying on before.
Nor would it mean His adding anything, as He cer-
tainly had before all the capacities that a human mind
has.
"We need not profess to explain and define the method
of the Incarnation, but we may entirely dismiss all
thought of impossibility or contradictoriness in con-
nection with it. Many things that we already know
of the nature of mind point directly towards its possi-
bility and there is nothing that really contradicts it.
The fact itself we may perhaps define as follows: —
The infinite being God not only inhabiting and oper-
ating a physical body like that of a man but also with
a consciousness located there feeling all the sensations
and experiences that a man experiences, and thinking,
perceiving, willing and acting with the same measure
of capacity as an ordinary man possesses. All this of
course with a feeling of perfect sympathy and brother-
liness towards other men.
This is what we may consider Jesus to have been,
and this is what we may define Incarnation to mean.
It must at least have been something the equivalent of
that, for Jesus emphatically declared, "He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father," and at the same time
284 THE SUPERNATURAL
He was always emphasizing the fact that He was " The
Son of Man."
PlJEPOSE OF THE LtfCAENATION
The next question is as to the reason for the Incar-
nation. If God thus became a man why did He do it ?
What place had such an act in His great perfect scheme
of universe building ? What is its place in God's great
evolution scheme? There is really the fundamental
problem. That is the one crucial question in connec-
tion with the Incarnation. We cannot conceive of
God doing such an act without a sufficient reason,
and what reason could be sufficient for such an act as
that?
We may say at once that the producing purpose was
not the Atonement. It was not done primarily as a
preparation for atoning for men's sins. That is not at
all implying that the atonement is not true. It is not
saying that atonement and sacrifice did not result as a
necessary consequence of that incarnation. But that
was not the formal and fundamental purpose of it.
We cannot believe that such a purpose could produce
such an act, or indeed any supernatural act. We have
already a number of times considered this same ques-
tion. We could not conceive of God doing a super-
natural act primarily in order to restore an}^thing or
repair anything or to supply any need or deficiency in
the results of ordinary evolution.
The purpose of the Incarnation was precisely the
same purpose as that of all the supernatural in the Old
Testament. It was just a great act of fellowship. It
THE INCARNATION 285
was merely God carrying out fully His purpose to
engage in fellowship with men. It was really an act
which belongs in the same series with all those Old
Testament acts, merely the culmination and most per-
fect one of all those acts, all having the same purpose
and the same meaning. Its object and meaning was
the complete inauguration of fellowship between God
and men, a purpose which, as we have seen, seems to
be the natural culmination of the whole evolution
process.
It is simply God doing in perfect degree what He
had partially done in all the Old Testament super-
natural, namely, meeting with men on the plane of
perfect fellowship, thus fully inaugurating that new
step in the evolution progress by inviting and drawing
men into a state of fellowship with Himself.
With such an interpretation the Incarnation becomes
luminous with meaning. All the other things that
result from it, such as the atonement, the teaching and
the ethical example, fall naturally into their logical
place, and all the difficulties with regard to it entirely
disappear. It is the natural and fitting culmination of
God's one great universe act.
Its Place in the Evolution Scheme
All down through the cycling ages God had been
leisurely carrying on an enterprise of evolution by
which He finally produced a race of beings capable of
engaging in fellowship with Himself. With the dawn
of Bible history He is seen beginning that fellowship
with them. The Old Testament records the earlier,
286 THE SUPERNATURAL
tentative advances. There were occasionally at long
intervals acts of (supernatural) kindness and friendli-
ness to individuals and to one selected nation. Along
with this there was also a continuous fellowship of con-
versation with them through the prophets and inspired
men. All this was a true intercourse of fellowship,
though somewhat veiled and reserved.
But we must believe that whatever God undertakes
to do He will ultimately do in the most complete and
effective degree possible. If He has proposed to bestow
fellowship upon men we may expect that in due time
He will bestow a fellowship that is the fullest and most
complete kind possible.
The fullest and most complete kind of fellowship He
could bestow would be for Himself to become a man,
stand on the same level side by side with other men,
sharing all their experiences and giving them all the
outflow of sympathy and friendship that perfect love
could bestow. That would be the complete bestowal
of perfect fellowship.
That is precisely what in the person of Jesus Christ
He did. And that purpose is one that gives us an en-
tirely adequate and appropriate reason for the Incarna-
tion. That is what we must believe the Incarnation
and the life of Jesus Christ really mean. And therein
we see that, instead of being abnormal, incredible and
contrary to science, this Incarnation of God is some-
thing that not only religion but the evolution process
in its highest interpretation actually calls for, and evo-
lution could not have its highest culmination with-
out it.
THE INCAKNATION 287
Fellowship Always Specific and Limited
If we are to interpret the incarnation of God in Jesus
Christ entirely as an act of fellowship then we must
expect that, like all the Old Testament acts of fellow-
ship, it shall strictly conform to the rules and essential
conditions of fellowship. One of these, as we have
seen, is that fellowship is a personal thing and re-
stricted in its bestowal to specific persons. It is not a
general benevolence available to all that will take it,
but must be specifically limited and bestowed on some
definite individual or group. It might seem at first
that in Jesus' case there was an exception to this, as
we believe Him to be the Saviour of the world with no
restrictions to His love and grace.
That is certainly true of the results of His life, and
it is true that He offers fellowship now to any one any-
where who will come, — personally and individually, —
and accept His fellowship. And yet when we consider
the historical fact, the actual earthly life itself and the
acts of Jesus, we find there is no exception there to the
rule. It all conforms to this law of fellowship, pre-
cisely as all the other fellowship acts of the Old Testa-
ment did.
Jesus' fellowship was not bestowed upon the world
at large. It was distinctly restricted and was all actu-
ally confined to one party, to the same party that had
been the recipient of all the Old Testament fellowship,
the party that God had established a special bond of
pledged fellowship with. To the Syro-Phoenician
woman Jesus said : — " I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel " (Matt. 15 : 24). We have
288 THE SUPEENATUEAL
no right to think that Jesus did not know what He
was saying or did not mean what He said.
This saying which we have often made such strenu-
ous efforts to explain away is really a very important
and fundamental one. The principle here stated is
confirmed by an examination of all His recorded life.
He did confine His work and His fellowship to that
nation, and never went out of it for work. Even when
some Greeks, — men of another nation, — came to Him in
Jerusalem and wished to meet Him it required quite an
amount of planning to get the audience, and it called
out in Jesus some of His deepest reflections as being an
unusual event (John 12 : 20 ff.).
He loved all people in all the world, and desired to
have fellowship with them all every one. And this in-
carnate life and fellowship He was now giving He
hoped would eventually bring men from all nations to
seek and accept that fellowship. But the life and the
acts themselves, if they were to be real fellowship and
not merely benevolence and charity, must be given to
those with whom there was a distinct bond of relation
and fellowship, namely, this Jewish nation.
It was when He should be " lifted up " and this act
of fellowship closed, that all men should be drawn to
Him, and of course none that come to Him would ever
be turned away. He would open up a relation of
friendship and fellowship with each and every one of
those that sought it, — personally and one by one. But
that is an entirely different matter from this act in
which He had "come down" and on His own part
from His own side unasked, bestowed fellowship. In
THE INCARNATION 289
that case He bestowed only upon a people to whom He
had long sustained a relation of plighted friendship, a
relation that distinctly justified and called for the be-
stowal of friendly fellowship.
It was because this coming of Jesus as a supernatural
act was under the same restrictions and conditions in
this respect as all the other supernatural acts that it
also was limited to this group with whom God was
carrying on the relation of fellowship, namely, Israel,
and was not directed in general to any and every na-
tion, though the results of His coming, as indeed the
results of all the other Old Testament supernatural
acts, were eventually to benefit all the world.
The Peesonality of Jesus
If the meaning we are to see in Jesus is a revelation
of God, and the object is fellowship, then the most im-
portant thing in the Gospels is not the sermon on the
mount or the great theological discourses in John.
The most important thing in the Gospels is Jesus Him-
self. We read the Gospels not to know what Jesus
taught but to know Jesus. Far more important than
anything He said or did is the sight of Him saying and
doing, and the touch of the divine heart that lay be-
hind the words and deeds. It is the personality rather
than the product that is important.
Not doctrines about His person but to really know
Him as a person, not analysis of His character but
really to come into contact with Him as friend with
friend and let that character have its influence upon
us, that is the way we really get the intended benefit
290 THE SUPEENATUEAL
of the Gospels. The art critic who should critically
examine the canvas, learn the chemical composition of
all the colours and the mathematical dimensions of all
the lines and shapes, but fail to see that it is a picture
and be touched by its beauty, has not gotten the highest
value out of his subject.
To really come into touch with Jesus and get the
full influence that the gospel picture was intended to
afford, we must put out of mind all the psychological
problems about infinite God becoming man, and the
theological problems of His nature. We must forget
for the time all about Atonement, and not even let the
consciousness of His divinity obtrude too much into
our thoughts. We must look upon Him purely as a
man. For that was what the whole event was, namely,
God becoming man, and if we fail to feel Him abso-
lutely a man we fail of the very object God was at
such infinite pains to secure. If it was worth God's
while to take all the pains to become a man, surely it
is worth our while frankly and fully to consider Him
a man and meet with Him as a man.
In all His relations He was genuinely a man. He
lived His life not in any official capacity, except as
every man's heart and the Spirit of God in him will
mark out a beckoning path of service. Even after He
began His public work it was the heart of the honest
carpenter that still beat within Him and that went out
in understanding sympathy to all with whom He
mingled.
His most intimate disciples seem all to have been
from the labouring classes, though doubtless many just
THE INCAKNATION 291
as sincere and earnest could have been obtained from
more educated circles, and one such man, Paul, did
have to be found later outside the twelve to be the
doctrinal interpreter of the new faith. Various
reasons have been suggested for this, but we seem
usually to entirely overlook the most obvious reason,
namely, that Jesus Himself was a labouring man. Men
of that class would naturally be more congenial to Him
and He to them. We must not suppose that the tastes
and feelings that rule other men were absent from Him.
As well suppose that He was not man at all as to sup-
pose that in any essential respect He was not the same
kind of man that any other man in His circumstances
would have been.
The Model Friend
There are a number of things in the record which
are very difficult to account for on any other theory of
the meaning of Christ's coming which are not only
easily explainable but very instructive as well if we
realize that the whole movement was a matter of
offered friendship and fellowship by God to men.
One of these difficult things is Judas. His relations
to Judas cannot be accounted for as merely a mistake
growing out of the human limitations of Jesus. Jesus
never was mistaken in the character of Judas. We are
plainly told that He read his character from the be-
ginning (John 6 : 64). His defection was not a sudden
emotional break merely, for he had long been dishonest
(John 12:6). To imagine that Jesus distinctly chose
him for the purpose of having one of His disciples be-
292 THE SUPERNATURAL
tray Him, in order to fulfill prophecy or something of
that kind, would be to make the whole matter too
much like merely a melodramatic suicide.
Jesus chose Judas on the same ground that He chose
all the others, namely, that he eagerly responded to His
appeal for friendship by trust. That was the one thing
He preeminently wanted. True his was not fully the
kind of trust He wanted, nor was that of any of the
others at first. None of them had at first either the
character or the beliefs He wished them to have, and
it is quite possible that Judas averaged up fairly well
with the others in that respect.
The important thing is that the whole matter was
on the plane of friendship and governed by the rules
that apply to friendship. He expected to eventually
win the world not chiefly by logic or learning but by
the drawing power of friendship and sympathy. And
so friendship was the one criterion by which He chose
His disciples, those who were to be His representatives
and carry on the work after He was gone.
Having once given His friendship the bond could only
be broken by the other party. He would never with-
draw it once given. The record is that " Having loved
. . . He loved unto the end " (John 13 : 1), Judas
being implicitly included. Whether or not He still
had hope of being able to reform Judas, at any rate He
was too much of a man of honour and too true a friend
to withdraw for any cause a pledged friendship once
given. And the same thing is equally true to-day.
The only thing that will ever put any man outside the
circle of Jesus' friends is for him himself to break or
THE INCARNATION 293
repudiate the bond of friendship. Jesus will never do
it no matter how great the provocation. There is as
great a lesson in Judas as in " the thief on the cross."
There are many indications that all the disciples
were rather heart friends than critically selected ap-
prentices. They were all merely men of His own
class and social level, who, partly for that reason, had
made a whole-hearted response to the appeal of His
friendship. That was the one thing He wanted, and
He was willing to rest His cause on that rather than
on scholarship, eloquence or political power.
He apparently aimed to influence His disciples rather
by His personality than by His words, otherwise how
can we account for it that not till they had been with
Him more than a year did they come to the full realiza-
tion of His divinity (Matt. 16 : 13 ff.), a truth that He
was much rejoiced to have them feel and which He
surely could have fully proved to them inside of a week
by teaching if it had been His plan to do it that way.
As it was He said it came to them through the heart,
directly through contact with the divine spirit.
The whole picture is the picture of a friend bestow-
ing the riches of His divinely precious fellowship upon
a chosen circle of friends, that they might go out to
the world with the glow of that friendship upon them,
to thereby attract others into the circle of the same
precious fellowship. That is the way His cause has
always won its converts and the way it is winning
them to-day, — by the touch of Christ-filled lives rather
than by the pressure of logic and scientific " Christian
evidences."
294 THE SUPERNATURAL
Not that His words are not a rich storehouse of
profitable teaching. Of course there were wise say-
ings, profitable advice and deep theological truths
given in His conversations with His disciples and
others. He would not be a true friend if He did not,
since He could, put much profitable conversation into
His fellowship with them. He could not otherwise
have given them that full outflow of His heart which
fellowship implies. He was purer and more spiritual
than other men, and the stores of profitable truth were
there and must come out if He spoke at all.
But if He was speaking just for the sake of revealing
truths how can we account for it that He never com-
mitted a single truth He had revealed to permanent
written record, and made no provision for having it
done ? Nor was there any attempt made apparently to
put on record a single word that He had spoken for
many years after He had gone away.
More than that, though for three years He was con-
stantly busy teaching, preaching and talking to people,
and probably if all He spoke were written it would be
enough to fill hundreds of volumes, yet of all His
divine words we have left preserved to us less all told
than could be easily spoken in three or four hours'
time.
This is all quite unaccountable except on the one
principle that it was not the intrinsic value of the
truths taught that was the important thing so much
as the social touch with Him the speaker. His words
and speaking were of value chiefly as means to
reveal Him Himself.
THE INCAKNATION 295
Dislike for Publicity
Another very strange fact is His command to His
disciples not to tell the people that He was the expected
Christ (Matt. 16 : 20). If He was the expected Christ,
and the success of His mission depended on His being
accepted as such, why does He forbid His disciples to
frankly tell the people that He is so? What expla-
nation can we give of this except that He considered the
influence of His personality at that stage far more
important than right beliefs as to the nature of His
person? And He knew that the agitation of their
thoughts over the knowledge of who He was would
interfere with their receiving the quiet, deep influences
of His personality. To try to look at the sun blinds
our eyes. We get the most benefit by just letting its
light shine about us.
When the Pharisees asked Him to show them a sign
from heaven and they would believe His claims to be
the Messiah (Mark 8:11, 12; John 6:20, etc.), He
refused. Why did He refuse ? The working of
miracles was an every-day occurrence with Him. Why
not work one now? It is quite possible that they
would have been as good as their word and have
formally acknowledged Him as the Messiah if He had
complied with their test and done a suitable miracle.
Why does He refuse such a natural test when the
working of miracles was such a constant part of His
every-day work ?
Equally strange is another similar fact, His constant
reluctance to display His miracles and frequent direct
attempts to conceal them. He frequently commands
296 THE SUPERNATURAL
the person healed not to tell any one of his healing
(cf. Matt. 8 : 4, etc.). He leads or sends others away
in order that the healing may be in private and
away from the public observation (Mark 8 : 23 ; John
9 : 7, etc.). Why did He do so ?
He Himself recognizes and appeals to His miracles
as affording proof of His divinity (John 10:38;14:11,
etc.), and yet He all the time seems to wish to hide
them and keep, them private, as though they were a
burden and He wished He did not have to be discom-
moded by them.
"We have been accustomed to say it was because the
success of His miracles increased the envy of His
enemies and hastened His death, and He wished to
prolong His time for teaching. But this is hardly a
sufficient or a satisfactory answer.
The true reason was that He had come from heaven
and become man expressly that He might meet men in
fellowship on their own level, and He grudged every-
thing that tended to make Him seem different from
them. He had such a heart of sympathy that He could
not help healing suffering men whenever the}'' appealed
to Him, but He constantly felt the price He had to pay
in that condition of specialness which it raised up as a
barrier between Him and the hearts of those with whom
He met and whom He wished to touch as brothers.
He wanted not the wonder and admiration of men
but their confiding affection. He wanted the same
feeling they had for the human friend that was most
near to them. Everything that made Him seem dif-
ferent from other men by just so much made more
THE INCAKNATIOtf 297
difficult that relation of familiar, homely affection. He
could have inspired wonder and admiration as God in
heaven, and did so in Old Testament times. The other
— the homely affection, — He considered so important
that it was worth leaving heaven and becoming man to
obtain it.
The mediaeval Church entirely missed this truth.
They fixed their gaze so constantly on the divinity as
to miss entirely the feeling of this humanity He con-
sidered so important, and as a result had to bring in the
virgin mother and the saints to supply this void their
mistake had made. We even yet have not entirely
recovered from that mistake. We are accustomed to
think of Jesus' ministry as consisting of only the three
years of His itinerancy. Future generations may come
to know Him more fully as He wished to be known.
They may realize what He became man for, and to
them His thirty years in the Nazareth carpenter shop
may bring quite as much soul comfort and strength as
the three years of His harassed publicity.
Jesus' Miracles
The Incarnation itself is the supreme miracle, but
the life of Jesus also presents many cases of specific
miracles. Indeed so great is their number that they
dominate the story, and we have very little account of
the acts of Jesus that do not have something of the
miraculous about them.
If the great miracle of the Incarnation is true we
need not stop to justify the occurrence of these specific
miracles. Accepting them as they are recorded we
298 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
shall only ask, What is their meaning ? What is their
purpose ? What is their value ?
Various answers are given. They are the proof of
the divinity of Christ. They are to attest the truth of
the doctrines He taught and the salvation He promised.
They are to give us confidence to trust Him by seeing
His power and what He did. All of these answers
and others may be true without yet being the true
answer as to what the meaning of the miracles is.
To get the true answer we must consider two or three
separate aspects. We must consider not only what good
resulted from them. That is one meaning. Another
question is, What was God's purpose in them ? Still an-
other is, What was their genesis in the mind of Christ ?
These last two questions are not the same. Jesus
was a man and thought and wished as a man. To Jesus
His miracles were a burden because they interfered
with the great passion and pleasure of His life, which
was to get near to men and feel their familiar affection.
God's Spirit saw a value in their occurrence that out-
weighed the disadvantages they brought in this respect,
so God allowed that they should be done. And yet the
cause in Jesus' mind that brought them about was not this
wider advantage they would bring but something else.
The cause that produced them practically every one
was pure human sympathy. It was the passion to help
men and relieve their sufferings. Jesus fully realized
the purpose which in God's plan the miracles served.
He knew they really did prove His divinity and attest
His authority. " Believe the works that ye may know
that the Father is in me " (John 10 : 38). " The works
THE INCAENATION 299
that I do bear witness that the Father hath sent me "
(John 5 : 36). Once in the very act of doing the mira-
cle He called attention to its evidential value. " That
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth
to forgive sins . . . arise and go unto thy house "
(Matt. 9 : 6). But even so that was not the primary
purpose that prompted His miracles. Neither in this
one nor in any of the others was the cause that led
Him to do the miracle its teaching or evidential value.
We know this because He positively refused to do a
miracle for a sign.
The motive that prompted Him was pure sympathy
responding to the appeals of distress. It is the same
motive that prompts the mother to give help in response
to the moans of her sick babe. To give the help does
prove that she has mother love, and that she is good
and kind. But she does not do it for that purpose, — to
evidence those things. If she did do it intentionally
to evidence those things that fact would seriously im-
pair its value as evidence of those very things. If you
do a kind deed purposely to show that you are kind it
does not show that you are kind at all, — merely that
you are vain. So all Jesus' miracles were purely the
result of His human sympathy responding to the appeal
of distress and of trust, — an appeal that He never found
Himself able to resist. And it is because they were so
that they have such evidential value.
The Miracles Proof of Jesus' Humanity
It has always been considered that the miracles of
Jesus prove His divinity. But if we will think more
300 THE SUPERNATURAL
deeply we will see that much more do they prove His
humanity.
"VYe have seen that all the miracles of Jesus were
merely the natural result of His sympathy on seeing
suffering and need. He saw a suffering sick man, His
sympathy was touched and His kind heart responded
with the impulse to do all He could to help him. Hav-
ing the power of God at His disposal He could, so He
did, entirely heal such persons.
But if, as we believe, Jesus is really God, one with
the Father and the expression of His character, God's
heart must be the same as the heart of Jesus. God the
Father must feel the same sympathy for that suffering
one and the same desire to relieve and heal him as Jesus
did. "Why then does He not do it ? God sees now the
millions of suffering men all over the world. He has
the same sympathy and same strong desire to relieve
them that we saw in Jesus. Why then does He allow
them to go on in suffering instead of performing a
miracle and healing them as Jesus did ?
The reason is because with His infinite view of all
the universe and of all time He can see decisive reasons
why it is best for nature to have its way and the suf-
fering run its normal course. Jesus did not have that
wide view and that knowledge. In all the view that
was open to His consciousness there was only the ap-
peal and pity urging Him to help and nothing to offset
it. And so He always did heal when the appeal
came.
It was that which made the difference. The heart
was the same in both, and there was the same purpose
THE INCARNATION 301
to do the best in view of all the facts in sight. And
yet when He and the Father both looked at the same
suffering, and both had the same pity and the same
strong desire to give relief, Jesus does heal and the
Father does not. And the reason is because Jesus is
human, bound only by the laws of human responsibili-
ties and seeing only with the measure of human
knowledge, while the Father must see and act from the
view-point of the whole universe and eternity.
If we wish for a definition then we may say that the
miracles of Jesus are the product of divine power placed
at the disposal of human knowledge and human inter-
ests. They show us how God would act if He saw
things as we see them. They are therefore the best pos-
sible revelation to us of the heart of God, for they
show us His heart not engaged with the problems of
infinity and eternity, which would be entirely unintel-
ligible to us, but show us His heart as it would be in
our environment and facing our problems, so doing
things we can understand.
It is quite appropriate then that the recorded life of
Jesus should be found so full of miraculous acts. Those
very miracles are the proof, as they are the result, of
His true humanity. But more than that, they reveal
to us the heart of God as nothing else could reveal it,
and enable us to understand it and feel it as no other
way of revealing it could do. They are therefore just
the acts best adapted to make us really know God and
thus make us desire to come into fellowship with Him.
And that was the supreme purpose Jesus had in be-
coming man.
II
ATONEMENT
THERE remains still one more very interesting
problem. Under that conception of religion
and of Christ's mission which we are follow
ing here what shall we say about what is usually called
" Atonement " ? What was Christ's relation to the sins
of the world ?
If God assumes the personality of a man and stands
among us sharing all the ordinary experiences of life,
He must in that capacity come in contact with sin. In
that case what must be His attitude towards it ? In
what relation will He stand to the sinful men on ac-
count of it, or what will be the results of His coming
in contact with it in that capacity ?
We may say at once that He will not in that capac-
ity meet sin as judge to inflict punishment upon it.
True this person who is incarnate is God and is the
same being that was the creator and is the moral ruler
of the world. Moreover it is distinctly declared that
He is the same one who in the end shall pronounce
judgment upon all men. But we are considering now
this one specific enterprise or project for wrhich He has
come into the world. In this specific enterprise for
which He became incarnate He does not meet sin and
the sinner as judge at all (John 5 : 45 ; 8:15). That
belongs to another enterprise and another department
302
ATONEMENT 303
of His activity entirely. As incarnate and come for
fellowship God's attitude will not be that of the pun-
isher of sin.
And we may also say that His primary aim and pur-
pose will not be the task of freeing us from the pollu-
tion of sin and giving us power to overcome it, even
though most important help does come to us from Him
in that respect. That, as we have seen, is right in line
with the very essence of God's evolution process which
He is carrying on in nature, so it could not be the pri-
mary purpose in this special personal enterprise.
His purpose in becoming incarnate did not have any
relation to sin in any way primarily. It did have
practically most vital and important relation to sin,
but it was all as a secondary matter and an indirect
result.
Love His Supreme Motive
His one fundamental purpose in all the incarnate life
was fellowship, and all His attitudes and relations must
have been such as would grow out of that. The ruling
motive of all His incarnate life must have been that
which is the characteristic exercise of fellowship,
namely, kindness, friendship and love.
By love we mean real human affection, — all that the
warmest friendship between close friends is. Not some
austere and exalted religious emotion, but this very
human and very commonplace thing, affectionate friend-
ship.
Too often we look to everything else but that for the
motive of His life. We see a prophet revealing the
thoughts of God. We see a great perfect example.
304 THE SUPEKNATUKAL
We see the spirit of a martyr willing to die to fulfill
a great trust laid upon Him.
He did indeed do and feel all those things, but they
were all quite secondary to the one great motive of His
life, which was love, — the common kind of love, — the
thing that makes our friends dear to us.
If love was the supreme passion and motive of His
life His attitude towards sin must be conditioned by
that. His relation to sin and to the sinner must be
that which is appropriate to love and that which
would be produced by love. If His one purpose in
coming was to be a great friend to man we can expect
Him to do anything that is the proper province of
friendship, — everything that love implies.
Love in contact with sinful men would want to do
everything it could to make them better. It would
warn, teach, persuade them and try to set such an ex-
ample before them as would spontaneously lead them
to right living, and it would want to give them direct
help by the power of God's Spirit in their hearts, to
achieve the better life. And so we see that Jesus would
become the great Teacher, as He has always been con-
ceived to be, and the great example inspiring men to
higher things. And we see also that special help to up-
lift, rescue or reform him, might ordinarily be expected
to be received by any man, along with other good gifts,
when he entered into the fellowship of that love.
Love Begets Suffering
But there is one other attitude that a friend may
have towards his sinful friend. There is one other
ATONEMENT 305
thing that he may do, indeed that he must do and can-
not avoid doing if he is really a friend. There is some-
thing that is commonly overlooked as an office of
friendship, but in this case it is the most important
of all, and the key to the whole situation. He may
suffer for the sins of his friend. Indeed in as far as
he is truly a friend he cannot avoid so suffering.
Not only when the sin and offense is against himself
will he suffer directly from the offense itself. That is
not all. In all cases he suffers. He suffers pain and
shame for the unworthiness of his friend. But still
more significant, he suffers directly through sympathy
with his friend the evil and shame which the sin brings
upon that friend.
Love may be defined from various view-points, but
from one view-point it certainly has this meaning of
" sympathy " or " feeling with " the person loved. If
you love a person very much you will feel the thrill
of any joy and the pain of any suffering you see him
experiencing, almost or quite as much as though you
were experiencing it yourself.
This then is a natural and inevitable attitude of
friendship towards the sins of a friend. By virtue of
his friendship he suffers for those sins, for it is the very
essence of friendship and love to make him suffer on
account of them.
It is this that forms the true essence of what we call
the Atonement. In a far more true and literal sense
than even the older theology conceived, Christ did
really bear the sins of men and really suffer for those
sins.
306 THE SUPEKNATUEAL
It was not merely in some mysterious "forensic"
sense, — some technical legal relation. Christ had the
iniquity of men laid upon Him and endured the penalty
of that sin in the most literal sense, and moreover in a
way that we are very familiar with in our own lives.
He could not fail to do so if love was the passion of
His life, and if love meant the same with Him as it
does with us. A perfect love coupled with a perfect
knowledge would feel the penalty of the other man's
sins just as much as the man himself did. Indeed
would feel it far more, for He would know far better
than the man himself the shamefulness of his sins and
the ruin it was working both in the world and in his
own soul.
One of the serious mistakes of that older theology
was its teaching of " The Impassibility of God,"— that
it was impossible for Him to suffer, that His existence
was always and altogether wrapped in the most perfect
and placid felicity. On the contrary we might almost
say that God is the greatest sufferer in the universe, —
that He suffers as much as all the universe together.
For wherever there is suffering experienced by any one
His perfect heart of love feels it just as much as the
person concerned.
This does not of course mean that God is crippled
and crushed under an agony of pain. God's infinite
powers are so great that all that vast amount of suf-
fering may be comparatively only like one atom in the
immensity of His infinite life. Nevertheless He does
bear and feel it all. And one of the effects of Christ
coming to earth incarnate was to let us see how much
ATONEMENT 307
He feels it, — let us see how great it is, by letting us see
its effect upon Him when He was not thus sustained
by infinite power. We shall see that it was this suffer-
ing for the sins of men and not the nails of the cross
that was really the actual cause of Christ's death.
The Atonement thus is something that necessarily
results from God's relation of love and fellowship with
men. It is a natural and inevitable result of that fel-
lowship. It is the essential attitude of God's love.
He had before that same love and that same feeling,
but the Incarnation by exhibiting the life of God in
human proportions enables us for the first time to
recognize and see it clearly.
That suffering from men's sins is not merely a de-
tached act, not merely a program that Jesus went
through. It is simply His nature, — God's nature,— ex-
pressing itself, and it appears somewhat wherever God
appears personally and specially to men. It is more or
less the undertone of all the Old Testament revelation
of God. The story of the Atonement is not something
exclusively confined to the closing chapters of the four
Gospels. Atonement, pain, suffering over the sins of
men He loves, colours the whole picture of God in all
the Bible, Old Testament as well as New.
Atonement
We need not attempt here to show what meaning
this fact of Christ's suffering thus would have in the
moral government of the world, and how it might con-
tribute to make it possible that God could pass over
sins without punishing them, as though they had been
308 THE SUPERNATURAL
expiated. That is a matter rather for Systematic The-
ology. Still we may notice that our forgiveness could
not have come without the suffering, for the fellowship
and love which brings us forgiveness was the condition
which caused that suffering and death. That was the
price He had to pay if we were to be loved and for-
given. He could not love us and receive us as friends
without that suffering. In that sense we may say He
had to die if we were to come into fellowship with
Him and He with us, and thus we could say that His
death purchased our redemption from punishment and
death.
He really made His life a sacrifice for sin (Isa.
53 : 10), for it was sin, the sins of men, that crushed
out that life and caused His death. Not merely that
Pilate and the Jews in their wickedness nailed Him to
the cross and killed Him. That has come to seem in
these days altogether too artificial and far fetched a
ground for a world salvation. It was not the soldiers'
hammer and nails that wrought the miracle of the re-
demption of the world.
Bare six hours on the cross was not enough in itself
to cause His death, as Pilate by his wonder testifies
(Mark 15:44). Especially is that plain when we con-
sider all the particulars. Something else aside from
the nail wounds was a factor and a main factor in
bringing the end, as has always been recognized. We
know that mental suffering can produce death, and all
the recorded circumstances seem to indicate that He
died from some form of acute mental agony rather
than the physical wounds. The intense agony in Geth-
ATONEMENT 309
semane also proves that there was something else at
work besides the mere bodily wounds.
Love Produced His Death
We need not be at a loss to divine what that some-
thing was. We know of this pain and suffering
through sympathy over men's sins which was pressing
upon Him all the time, of such intensity that the only
wonder is that it had not taken His life long before.
Doubtless it would have done so but for the divine help
and strength acquired during many long night vigils of
prayer alone on the mountains.
It was His love, so great as to make Him feel the
pangs of all our pains and sins which made the burden
that ceaselessly pressed upon Him, and which won Him
the title of the " Man of Sorrows." We may not be
able to enter fully into the psychology of His experi-
ences, and know just how far during His life He could
see the sins of men and feel their pains. Doubtless He
could only see with a man's capacity and feel in pro-
portion. Human strength could not have endured the
load a single moment if His love had been able to see
the sins of all the world and fully feel its pain. He
saw as a man the griefs and sins of all the men around
Him that He knew and loved, and that was a sufficient
load for Him to bear then. As He advanced in His min-
istry, came in contact with more men, and especially as
He saw more clearly their wickedness and felt the pang
of it, the sorrow deepened more and more upon Him.
Something at the end made a sudden access of that
pain too great for the measure of human strength to
310 THE SUPERNATURAL
bear, and it crushed out His life. It may have been
that just at the end His mind was somehow miracu-
lously opened to know and feel the sins of all men,
with its terrible weight of pain and shame. But we
are not shut up necessarily to such an explanation.
The natural circumstances would seem to be quite suf-
ficient. That terrible saturnalia of sin and blasphemy
through which He was dragged just at the end would
seem to furnish a sufficient cause. Especially since we
know that He had a deep and tender love for each one
even of those men that were so raving in blasphemy
and hate.
It is hard for us to realize that He could have really
loved all those men who were hounding Him to death,
— loved them so deeply that He felt their sin and
shame as though it were His own. Yet we know that
He did thus love them and must have suffered intensely
from it all. What would a father feel to see his one
dearly loved son so debase and debauch himself ? Mul-
tiply that pain by the hundreds that Jesus saw thus
debauching themselves, and remember that His love
was far deeper and more constant than even that of a
father for an erring boy. All this in addition to the
ever-increasing load of the same kind that He was al-
ready bearing, and is it any wonder that the strain be-
came too great and His life gave way ?
That intense agony in the garden the night before, —
it was the anticipation of this that caused that agony,
not the fear of death or physical wounds. What to
Him was the little suffering of the nails in His flesh
compared to this suffering of love ?
ATONEMENT 311
But the pain became too great for human strength
to bear. He bowed His head upon the cross and
yielded up His life. Sin had done its worst but His
love remained constant. And His Father glorified
Him and endued Him again with His divine strength.
That is the real meaning of Jesus, the Son of God
come down to earth to enter our fellowship and win us
to be His friends. He has not finished a task and gone
away. It was not a task but a fellowship. And
though unseen He is still as truly now as then, " with
us always."
He has just the same love and sympathy now as
then, only now He has infinite power to sustain the
load. He has still the same desire to bestow love and
fellowship that brought Him here at first, and the same
heart yearning for us to come unto Him that He may
love us and help us and be our friend.
Let us not stop to question what it is that saves us
from punishment and brings forgiveness of sins. Let
us just look upon Him as He is, feeling the hurt and
shame of all our sins, because He loves us, yet loving
us still with all our sins, and holding out His hands to
us in love, saying " Come Unto Me."
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