Cibrarp of l!Ae Cheolocjical ^emmarjp 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 The Estate of the 
 Rev. John B. Wiedinger 
 
 W h 9 en 6 Jesus wrote on the 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2014 
 
 https://archive.org/details/whenjesuswroteonOOjone_0 
 
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WHEN JESUS WROTE 
 ON THE GROUND 
 
 EDGAR DeWITT JONES, D.D, 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE 
 ON THE GROUPS^ 
 
 Studies, Expositions and Meditations 
 In The Life of the Spirit 
 
 EDGAR DeWITT JONES, D.D. 
 
 MINISTER OF CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH, DETROIT 
 
 Author of "The Inner Circle," "The Wisdom of God's 
 Fools," "Fairhope" etc. 
 
 WITH AN APPRECIATION BY 
 
 DR. CHARLES CLAYTON MORRISON 
 
 EDITOR OF "THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY" 
 
 NEW 
 
 YORK 
 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1922, 
 BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND. I 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
TO 
 
 THE MEMBERS AND OFFICE-BEARERS 
 OF 
 
 FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS 
 
 WHERE FOR FOURTEEN YEARS THE AUTHOR 
 ENJOYED THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF A FREE PULPIT 
 
 AND TO OTHER FRIENDS AND FELLOW-WORKERS 
 OF THAT COMMUNITY 
 
 THIS VOLUME OF SERMONS 
 IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 
EDGAR DeWITT JONES 
 
 An Appreciation by 
 CHARLES CLAYTON MORRISON 
 Editor of The Christian Century 
 
 Those who know Edgar DeWitt Jones, the man, 
 will keep wishing that all who share with them the in- 
 spiration of these published sermons might have in 
 mind the image of the preacher himself. Lucid and 
 heartening as this printed preaching is, it requires the 
 personal presence of the preacher to give it its full 
 power. Such a remark I well know is a commonplace, 
 and it passes usually as a truism. But it is not always 
 true. Preachers there are a-plenty whose written 
 word is discounted by their personalities, just as Paul's 
 opponents declared that his letters were weighty and 
 telling, but his personality weak and his delivery be- 
 neath contempt. We know that in Paul's case this 
 was simply the talk of his enemies, for the results of 
 the personal labors of the great apostle are not open 
 to dispute and the tone of voice in which he defies 
 his opponents in the later chapters of his Second Corin- 
 thian letter discloses a sense of personal power which 
 a man could hardly have gained save by its successful 
 exercise under many crucial tests. 
 
 Yet, however it may have been with Paul, whether 
 his outer personality put his great soul at a disadvan- 
 
ii 
 
 AN APPRECIATION 
 
 tage as compared to the power expressed in his written 
 message, the fact remains that the severest test to which 
 the personality of a minister can be put is not in 
 preaching to his people but in simply living among 
 them. To be sure, his preaching is a part of his living, 
 but his living is more, far more, than his preaching. 
 No man in the community is subjected to such a search- 
 ing of the foundations and hidden recesses of his char- 
 acter as is the minister. He stands in the spotlight of 
 public attention, not alone when he stands in the pulpit, 
 but in his daily walk and conversation. He has far less 
 privacy than any other man. The margin of his de- 
 portment in which he may be indifferent to the opinion 
 of others is narrower than in the case of any of his 
 neighbors. Unless his public message is reinforced by 
 a personality of depth and grace, his message suffers 
 great discount. No matter how brilliant a success a 
 minister may achieve in the pulpit, his success will 
 lack substance and foundation if his people have to 
 speak apologetically of the private side of his life. But 
 if his people see in him the embodiment of those ele- 
 ments of personal dignity and strength which com- 
 mand their respect and win their affection, he becomes 
 one more demonstration of the soundness of that 
 tradition which places the Christian ministry pre- 
 eminent among all professions and vocations. 
 
 All this is background for saying that in the preach- 
 ing of Edgar DeWitt Jones the central secret is the 
 preacher himself. Readers of these sermons who do 
 not personally know Dr. Jones will find here grace and 
 charm of expression, vitality of conviction, and un- 
 usual skill in homiletical craftsmanship. It is to be 
 
AN APPRECIATION 
 
 iii 
 
 hoped that even such readers may be led by the quali- 
 ties of the sermons to draw a vague mental picture of 
 the preacher himself, and if so, they are sure to feel 
 in some subtle fashion the outflow of his personal 
 power. But those readers who have sat under the 
 ministry of Dr. Jones, or who have come into any 
 degree of friendly relationship with him, will approach 
 these chapters in quite a different mood. For them 
 his published sermon will not be just a deliverance: 
 it will be a revelation — a self-revelation of the ideals 
 and convictions of a personality that has already ar- 
 rested their interest and won their love. The sermon 
 will not be merely a piece of writing to be judged 
 by its intrinsic argument or beauty ; but a human docu- 
 ment, a letter from a friend whose utterances we hold 
 as true not so much because he proves them as because 
 fie says them. 
 
 I well remember my first personal contact with Dr. 
 Jones. It was nearly a score of years ago. The occa- 
 sion was a gathering of ministers at which Dr. Jones 
 read a paper. He made upon me the impression of a 
 singularly courtly and gentle spirit. His unusually 
 prepossessing countenance and physique, his urbanity, 
 his graceful speech, his genuine consideration of the 
 feelings and opinions of others created in me the sense 
 that here was a man of rare inward moral dignity. But 
 from my detached point of view at the time I could 
 not help wondering whether the qualities which 
 charmed us all might not represent his public reaction 
 to high professional ideals more than the inherent 
 character of his private self. He was away from home 
 at the time! And the skeptic in me suggested that 
 
iv AN APPRECIATION 
 
 perhaps in the routine of daily living, among people 
 to whom his affairs were an open book, he would be 
 found acting in the commonplace role of the rest of us, 
 as compared to that in which he had exhibited himself 
 in our formal meeting and friendly intercourse. 
 
 Since that first meeting I have seen him in all sorts 
 of situations. I have seen him in the routine of his 
 parish, with his neighbors, his churchfolk, his family, 
 and in the seclusion of his study, and I am bound 
 to say that I have never seen him in an ungraceful 
 role. The chivalrous manner, the gentle, considerate 
 address, the deft use of literary lore, the habit of 
 carefully formulating his ideas, the elegance and re- 
 straint of his phrasing, all these I have found through 
 many years of a friendship based upon the most inti- 
 mate contacts to be part of the very grain of this 
 rare minister's nature. I have seen him at play, I 
 have seen him bearing the burden of great personal 
 sorrow, I have seen him angry with a godly wrath, 
 but I have never seen him in a weak or ungraceful 
 posture. I shall always remember the impression he 
 made upon me once when protesting against a flagrant 
 injustice. He voiced his emotion in measured words 
 the last of which proved to my surprise to be a word 
 not wholly disallowable by the Christian laity, if con- 
 fined to the proper occasion, but which one does not 
 expect a minister to pronounce. There was a certain 
 majesty about his explosion. One felt the very rafters 
 of the universe shake. Yet the protest was spoken 
 gently, quietly, without the slightest loss of poise of 
 soul. I think that episode gave me a new sounding 
 of the deeps of my friend's personality. I felt his 
 
AN APPRECIATION 
 
 v 
 
 self-control, his moral power, his leonine vigor as I 
 had never had occasion to do before. Once I called 
 on him when he was suffering the intense pain of 
 illness. I could myself hardly endure the sight of his 
 anguish. But with grim humor he reminded me be- 
 tween paroxysms that Ian Maclaren had died of the 
 thing that was the matter with him! His fineness is 
 instinctive. Graciousness is either native to him or 
 the gift of Christ in a thorough-going conversion. He 
 does not merely contemplate truth and beauty and 
 strength, and admire them as external objects; they 
 are part of himself, organic with his personality. When 
 such a man preaches, therefore, he speaks more than 
 words — his words are in very truth spirit and life. 
 
 It is as a conversationalist that I could wish all 
 readers of his sermons might know him, as well as a 
 pulpiteer. I know of no man who combines more 
 winsomely the ingredients of small talk, casual, spon- 
 taneous humor, and lofty and earnest discourse in con- 
 versation than Dr. Jones. An evening with him leaves 
 one's mind dripping with the juices of literature, of 
 current events, of whimsical anecdote — the juices, too, 
 of one's own best ideas ! For he is not that kind of 
 conversationalist who does all the conversing. He 
 makes conversation a game of tennis and you are on 
 your mettle to return the ball. Moreover he plays the 
 game so as to stimulate your best thinking, not to over- 
 whelm you by his own. So he always lets you go 
 with a certain inner feeling of satisfaction with your- 
 self, not only that you got so much from him, but that 
 you contributed to the conversation so much yourself, 
 and did it so well ! 
 
vi 
 
 AN APPRECIATION 
 
 As a preacher, face to face with a congregation, 
 Dr. Jones impresses you as putting his object above his 
 subject. He has practical ends in view. He wants 
 this sermon to accomplish some specific thing. It 
 is not on the level of mere institutional interest that 
 his object lies — far from that — but in the realm of 
 human life. He really wants to bring consolation 
 to the bereaved, courage to the wavering, hope to those 
 whose heart is the home of shame. I imagine that he 
 always visualizes some particular mother or youth or 
 business man, some particular sinner or mourner or 
 butterfly of fashion, when he speaks to classes of 
 them. His subject is conscientiously wrought out, 
 but his object dominates his mind both in the prepara- 
 tion and delivery of his sermon. This gives point 
 and concreteness to his message which much thought- 
 ful preaching lacks. 
 
 In his intellectual interests Dr. Jones is one of the 
 most modern of the moderns. He is an omnivorous 
 reader. He puts his friends to shame by the wide 
 range of his knowledge of contemporary literature, 
 both magazine and book. But he keeps up the old 
 tradition of literary taste. Throughout the war when 
 everybody's ears were so dinned with the noise of 
 urgent current events that they lost interest in anything 
 that anybody ever said before 1914, this man would 
 pass from his morning review of the relative positions 
 of the armies at the front to a re-reading of Boswell or 
 Pepys ! He kept his perspective. He could not aban- 
 don the old books, because they had become his friends. 
 He had not simply studied them, he had communed 
 with them, and he has cherished them through these 
 
AN APPRECIATION vii 
 
 years of truculent contemporaneity with a devotion 
 second only to that which he has given his friendships 
 in the flesh. I do not think the range and depth 
 of Dr. Jones' intellectual interests are in any adequate 
 degree indicated in this volume of his sermons, in- 
 spiring and rich with suggestion as I am sure every 
 reader will find the book to be. His social convictions 
 are only suggested here, and I know that these convic- 
 tions are well seasoned and deep set in his soul. He 
 has had many a battle with himself to preach this social 
 gospel in which he truly believes. Pastor for many 
 years of many men of wealth who rejoiced in the 
 "comfortable" evangelical burden of his ministry, he 
 has faced the possibility of alienation of friendships and 
 serious disturbance of the congregational life, should 
 he adopt a harsh presentation of these social demands 
 of Jesus which our generation feels must be applied 
 to large areas of life unincluded by previous genera- 
 tions within the scope of Christian ethics. And I know 
 of nothing in which the pastor-heart has so justified 
 its impulses as in the way in which it has guided the 
 pulpit voice of this particular pastor in his utterance 
 of the social gospel. By instruction most deft and 
 delicate, the social obligation has been interpreted in 
 a way that has altogether won many, and those whom 
 it has not fully won are left with an inner divine dis- 
 content which is peculiarly salutary. 
 
 It is this shepherd instinct that, after all, is the 
 greatest quality in Edgar DeWitt Jones. He loves 
 people. He believes in them. He invests even the un- 
 worthiest of them with dignity. And in the spirit of 
 Jesus he delights to serve them. He is a real pastor. 
 
viii AN APPRECIATION 
 
 He knows little children by name, and they cling to 
 him. His footsteps are acquainted with all the levels 
 upon which human life holds intercourse. He meets 
 the man of affairs at his club without constraint, and he 
 talks to the dear nobody with gentle sincerity and with- 
 out patronage. The best thing I can say about him is 
 that I should like him to be my own pastor. I should 
 like to have him as a counsellor in the things of the 
 spirit. Just to know that he knew my troubles would 
 help me bear them, quite aside from any prescription 
 he might offer. And when my faith was baffled, as 
 alas, it often is, I think I should find my feet again, 
 partly by the wisdom of his instruction, but more be- 
 cause he would lead me by the attractions of his fine 
 spirit to the rock upon which his own faith seems so 
 secure. 
 
 C. C. M. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 1 3 
 
 Study of an Unconventional Portrait of Jesus. 
 
 II WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND ... 29 
 The "Scarlet Letter" in Our Lord's Time. 
 
 III THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 43 
 
 A Summit View from the Mont Blanc of the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 IV THREE TIMES A DAY 57 
 
 A Plea for Fixed Seasons of Private Devotions. 
 
 V A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO ... 69 
 Some Reflections on the Marvel of the Divine 
 Pursuit 
 
 VI THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 8l 
 
 How God Schools His Prophets and Provides 
 for Their Successors 
 
 VII HABAKKUK'S HYMN 95 
 
 A Meditation on the Winged Words of an Old 
 Testament Saint 
 
 VIII THE LADDER OF PRAYER 105 
 
 An Elementary Lesson in the Greatest of 
 Schools 
 
 IX THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM II9 
 
 The Deeper Truth Underlying the Vagaries of 
 Spiritualistic Experiments 
 
 X GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES . . . . 1 35 
 How the Divine Spirit Appraises a Christian 
 Congregation 
 
 ix 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XI THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE ...... I47 
 
 A Brief for the Family Altar 
 
 XII THE LORD'S LEADING 159 
 
 A Meditation on a Memorable Hymn 
 
 XIII THE PEACE CHRIST GD7ES 1 73 
 
 Why Jesus' Peace Differs from the World's 
 Peace 
 
 XIV OTHER SHEEP 185 
 
 How the Good Shepherd Regards the Scattered 
 Flock of God 
 
 XV WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP .... I99 
 A Never-To-Be-Forgotten Day in the Lives of 
 Four Fishermen 
 
 XVI WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? . . 211 
 The Ministry of the Comforter or "God in 
 Action" 
 
 XVII THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 223 
 
 A Hymn of the Nativity Set to Music by the 
 Holy Spirit. 
 
I 
 
 THE ORDER OF THE TOWEL AND BASIN 
 Study of an Unconventional Portrait of Jesus 
 
John 13:1-4. 
 
 Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus 
 knowing that His hour was come that He 
 should depart out of this world unto the 
 Father, having loved His own that were in 
 the world, He loved them unto the end. And 
 during supper, the devil having already put 
 into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, 
 to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father 
 had given all things into His hands, and that 
 He came forth from God, and goeth unto God, 
 riseth from supper, and layeth aside H : s gar- 
 ments; and He took a towel, and girded him- 
 self. 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON 
 THE GROUND 
 
 i 
 
 THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 
 
 Some years ago a distinguished American educator 
 was the guest of a group of Chinese pastors and 
 teachers in an interior town of that young Republic. 
 In the course of the conversation he was amazed to 
 discover how familiar his hosts were with the Gospel 
 narrative. Nothing seemed to have escaped their 
 scrutiny, and their knowledge of the details of Jesus' 
 life fairly startled the American. Something prompted 
 him to ask them this question : ''What incident in the 
 life of Jesus impressed you most?" 
 
 Now this is a question of more than ordinary sig- 
 nificance. It is a question that a group of English or 
 American pastors and teachers might ponder with 
 profit. It is a question that students of the Gospels 
 for many years, and those familiar with the New 
 Testament for a life time, ought to weigh carefully 
 before answering. It is not a question to be answered 
 offhand or glibly; it warrants a fresh study of the 
 records and possibly extended reflection. Moreover 
 13 
 
14 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 by our answer to this query it is possible, at least par- 
 tially, to appraise us spiritually. 
 
 The Chinese Christians thoughtfully considered the 
 American's question. After a long pause, — so long 
 that it became embarrassing, — the oldest of the group 
 replied: "His washing of his disciples' feet." A con- 
 sensus of opinion showed that the other Chinamen were 
 in agreement with this answer. That this particular 
 incident should have impressed the Oriental mind 
 above any of the miracles of Jesus is, to say the least, 
 interesting. That a great teacher should take the place 
 of a slave and perform a menial service seemed more 
 wonderful to that company of new converts to Chris- 
 tianity than Jesus' stilling of the storms on Galilee, his 
 healing of the Gerasene demoniac, or his calling Laza- 
 rus back to life. 
 
 Portraits with our Lord as subject are numerous in 
 the renowned galleries of the world. In Florence, 
 alone, there are more than fifteen hundred paintings 
 with Jesus as theme. The wondrous tints of Del Sarto, 
 the rich coloring of Titian, the witchery of Raphael's 
 skill, the exquisite miniatures of Fra Angelico have 
 helped to fix forever in the minds of the people those 
 mountain peaks of our Lord's career : the Nativity, the 
 Temptation, the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion. 
 It is difficult to think of Jesus in art except in these 
 crises and epochal experiences of His ministry. One 
 could wish, however, that a more unconventional por- 
 trait of Jesus were known in every land where the 
 sun shines — I mean this portrait of Jesus washing His 
 disciples' feet. 
 
 In the Church of the Divine Paternity, New York, 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 15 
 
 where the gifted J. Fort Newton preaches, there is such 
 a picture done in mosaic and placed above the com- 
 munion table in the Chancel. On the left is the figure 
 of John in an attitude of devotion, in the background 
 Andrew and James the son of Zebedee. Bartholomew 
 and Philip are seated at the table. Thaddeus and Mat- 
 thew are standing. Thomas and Judas seated. Judas 
 is placed in the foreground balancing Philip on the 
 left. In the center Christ is shown in the act of wash- 
 ing the feet of Simon Peter. The coloring scheme is so 
 arranged as to throw the central figures in the light with 
 darker and richer shades on the extreme edges. It is a 
 beautiful and impressive picture, and the more so be- 
 cause it is an unconventional portrait of Jesus, one that 
 shows Him in the humblest of ministries. In fancy we 
 may gaze upon this rich mosaic as we reflect upon the 
 meaning of the deed it commemorates. 
 
 I 
 
 It was a daring act of Jesus, this washing of His 
 disciples' feet. It was unexpected and altogether con- 
 trary to the rank of a teacher or seer. A menial service 
 such as this was the duty of a slave, and in the absence 
 of a servant from the upper room each of the disciples 
 should have performed the act for the other. But the 
 minds of the twelve were far removed from so lowly a 
 ministration; therefore Jesus took the towel and the 
 basin and began to bathe the dusty feet of one of the 
 twelve. It is difficult to imagine any other teacher of 
 Jesus' day at this servant's task. By no leap of fancy 
 can one think of the great Gamaliel engaged in so lowly 
 an occupation. It was a bold and daring act on the 
 
16 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 part of Jesus, and in perfect keeping with the ven- 
 turesomeness that characterized His ministry for man- 
 kind. It was this quality — fearlessness to over-ride 
 tradition and willingness to plough straight across class 
 distinction in order to serve humanity — that signalized 
 the ministry of our Lord. He dined freely at the homes 
 of notorious sinners, and the despised Publicans were 
 His friends. The fact that the woman of Sychar had 
 "a past" did not deter Him from engaging her in con- 
 versation; if anything, it increased His desire to help 
 her find "the way home." It was this quality of cour- 
 age to brave custom and challenge traditions that made 
 the early church so unconquerably persistent. Those 
 early disciples of Jesus hazarded everything for the 
 sake of a great cause. They jeopardized comfort, posi- 
 tion, family ties, even life itself, with magnificent aban- 
 don. "Safety last" was the motto of the men and wo- 
 men who established the Brotherhood of Christ in a 
 thousand fields where darkness reigned. Modern 
 Christianity sorely needs this venturesomeness ; this 
 dauntless spirit that laughs at difficulties ; balks at noth- 
 ing; welcomes opposition; and marches straight into 
 peril unafraid. In truth, there can be no real mission- 
 ary passion without this divine recklessness as to what 
 happens to oneself. There is no place where a Chris- 
 tian cannot go when his purpose is good and the oc- 
 casion warrants his going. 
 
 There is a widely known and successful minister in 
 Baltimore, a Virginian by birth, who is the most cour- 
 teous and delightful of men. There is something al- 
 most womanly in his gentle ways and kindly address. 
 But withal there is a daringness in his faith and a cer- 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 17 
 
 tain boldness of spirit. In witness of this, an incident 
 of his ministry is recalled. For several Sundays in 
 succession this able preacher had observed a stranger 
 in his audience and one who seemed to be greatly in- 
 terested in the service. He made several attempts to 
 see this stranger at the close of the service, but un- 
 successfully. No sooner was the benediction pro- 
 nounced than the man hurried out of the church. Af- 
 ter a good deal of difficulty he discovered that this man 
 was the proprietor of a drinking place and also his 
 place of business. One afternoon the minister passed 
 through the swinging doors of the saloon and, seeing 
 the owner behind the bar, he went over to him and 
 shook hands with him. The man was much confused 
 and greatly embarrassed. "I am glad to see you, Dr. 
 
 A but not in this place. I would like to have 
 
 you come to see me at my home." "My friend," replied 
 the minister, "if this place is good enough for you to 
 do business in, it is good enough for me to come to 
 see you in." This was unanswerable, so the proprietor 
 removed his white apron, came from behind the bar, 
 and with his guest sat down at one of the tables in the 
 midst of men who were drinking, laughing, and telling 
 ribald stories. From that visit and conversation there 
 came about the conversion of that man to the Chris- 
 tian faith, his giving up the liquor business, and the 
 consequent regeneration of his life. Oh, for a daring 
 ministry, a dauntless discipleship of Jesus, an unbeat- 
 able Church ! 
 
 Yes, when Jesus took the towel and the basin and 
 proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples there was 
 daring and audacity in the act. Christianity can never 
 
18 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 amount to much in any community where its adherents 
 are slow to go into the midst of sin and misery, fearful 
 lest thereby they lose their religion. Those who possess 
 that spirit have little religion to lose and certainly none 
 to impart. The great sore spots of the world cannot be 
 cured by absent treatment. The last time that General 
 William Booth visited America, he told how he came to 
 organize the Salvation Army. He went over on the 
 east side of London and there he saw the vice, the 
 crime, and the suffering of the people. "I hungered for 
 hell," he said; "for days I stood in the seething streets, 
 drinking it in and loving it all. Yes, I loved the souls 
 that made up the muddy stream." That phrase "hun- 
 gering for hell" is drastic, but not too drastic. It is 
 better to "hunger for hell" in the sense that Booth used 
 the term than it is to "hunger for heaven" in that selfish 
 sense of desiring to attain unto bliss, and in so doing 
 abandon the sin-cursed multitudes to their fate. 
 
 ii 
 
 Jesus washed His disciples' feet and in that act He 
 rebuked their selfish neglect and unlovely controversy 
 far more effectively than the most scathing words 
 could have done. Canon Farrar thinks that as the di- 
 sciples were seating themselves at the table the contro- 
 versy arose over the seat of honor which each wanted 
 for himself. This may have been the case. It is in 
 Luke 22 :24~30 where we learn that the discussion took 
 the form of an argument as to who should be the 
 greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Luke says there 
 was a "contention" among them. Thus in the disciples' 
 contention for place, rank, power, and authority, the 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 19 
 
 humble preparation for the meal — the washing of their 
 travel-stained feet — was ignored or forgotten. Be- 
 sides, such was a servant's task, and not one of the 
 twelve was minded to take the towel and the basin and 
 do this lowly service, each for the other. Jesus took 
 in the situation at a glance. He saw the mood of the 
 disciples; the contention had inflamed them. They 
 were angry and filled with pride, and possibly envy. 
 They were thinking of scepters, of thrones, and crowns; 
 they were high-minded and haughty of heart. He 
 might have rebuked them sternly, even sarcastically, 
 if indeed our Lord ever spoke on that wise. But He 
 said not a word. Instead He took a towel, twisted it 
 about his waist like a girdle ; then a basin, poured water 
 in it, and kneeling down began to wash the feet of a 
 guest. Those who saw the "Passion Play" in 1910 will 
 never forget the exceeding great tenderness of the 
 scene when Anton Lang, as Jesus, knelt at the feet of 
 Johan Zwink, who impersonated Judas Iscariot, and 
 began to wash his feet. It was more memorable than 
 the famous trial or crucifixion scenes. It moved the 
 spectators to tears. 
 
 Christ washed the feet of Judas ! 
 And thus a girded servant, self -abased, 
 Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven 
 Was e'er too great to wholly be effaced 
 And thus unasked, in spirit be forgiven. 
 
 "Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things 
 into His hands, and that He came forth from God, and 
 goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside 
 His garments; He took a towel, and girded Himself." 
 Here is a new idea of Godlikeness, a new conception 
 
20 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 of Divinity. And that the only begotten of the Father 
 should thus take upon himself the service of a menial, 
 and with such winsomenese withal, is too wonderful for 
 us to comprehend. And yet, since God is Love how 
 could it be otherwise. 
 
 In that act of washing the disciples' feet Jesus washed 
 more than the soil from off their flesh. What He did to 
 their hearts was greater than what He did for their 
 bodies. By that act He washed away envy and sordid 
 ambition, jealousy and foolish pride, from the hearts 
 of the eleven. Even Judas could never be the same 
 man again after the Master had thus washed his feet. 
 Who knows how closely related was Judas' recollection 
 of this ineffable act and his flinging the blood money 
 at the feet of the priests crying: "I have sinned in 
 that I have shed innocent blood." Love is never so 
 powerful as when it glows in acts, when it pulsates 
 deeds. Example is as much better than precept as is 
 character than ceremony. Men have a habit of forget- 
 ting what we say in supreme moments but they never 
 forget what we do in hour of crisis. What is there so 
 great and so melting as sacrificial love? To what un- 
 expected ends and to what renunciations will such 
 love go. 
 
 I recall an incident, an unconventional episode, one 
 too in which a minister was the central figure, a man 
 justly famed for his singularly upright and beautiful 
 life; the most fully orbed minister of Christ's Gospel it 
 has been my good fortune to know. This man has a 
 dislike for tobacco that amounts almost to antipathy. 
 He deplores its use in any form and particularly abhors 
 a pipe. It came about that his only son early took to 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 21 
 
 smoking and by a strange irony he chanced to prefer a 
 pipe most of all. The great-hearted father was pained 
 and disappointed, but he took, as was his wont, the 
 larger view, going so far as to tell the youth that if he 
 was determined to smoke it was unnecessary for him 
 to go away from the house to indulge the habit. Some 
 months later, possibly a year, this minister consulted 
 his daughter, who was also the keeper of his home, 
 as to what practical Christmas gift she thought he 
 should purchase for her brother, something too that 
 he would especially prize. The young woman an- 
 swered immediately and definitely, "Get him a pipe, 
 father, he needs a new one." The minister showed the 
 surprise he felt. "But you would scarcely expect me to 
 do that, daughter," he replied. "Father, you asked me 
 what practical gift brother would appreciate, and I an- 
 swered you accordingly. He certainly needs a new 
 pipe." The father made no further reply but into his 
 calm, strong face there came a look that only love 
 can impart. Christmas morning in the minister's home 
 the gifts were distributed, after the family's custom. 
 The father handed his son a package. The lad un- 
 wrapped it, never suspecting what the gift might be. 
 When he saw what it was he looked at his father, then 
 at the pipe, then back again at his father, and as he 
 saw the love light shining in those dear eyes and light- 
 ing up the strong face, the boy understood. He dropped 
 the pipe and sprang to his father's side, threw his 
 arms around him, and, laying his head on his father's 
 shoulder, burst into tears! Oh, the power, the glory, 
 the wonder of the ministry of the towel and the basin ! 
 
22 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 in 
 
 Jesus' lowly act in the upper room was a token, a 
 sign for all who would be like Him. "A servant," He 
 said, "is not greater than his Lord; neither one that 
 is sent than He that sent him. I have given you an 
 example that ye also should do as I have done unto 
 you." In so saying, Jesus did not institute an ordi- 
 nance to be perpetuated by the ceremonial washing of 
 His disciples' feet; He performed a necessary service, 
 lowly and menial only in the eyes of those who thought 
 so. The lesson here is that no position in life, no 
 rank or wealth absolves a follower of Jesus from a 
 similar service. Jesus taught by this significant inci- 
 dent that the giving of a cup of cold water, the assist- 
 ing of a decrepit man, an aged woman, or an affrighted 
 little child across a crowded street; a word of encour- 
 agement, a letter of comfort, counsel, or congratulation ; 
 a cheerful, happy smile, a simple "thank you" for the 
 slightest service rendered is the privilege of us all and 
 becomes the mighty and the famous as well as the 
 obscure and the unknown. 
 
 I number among my friends a man who knew inti- 
 mately David Swing. He has told me many things 
 about that great preacher whose influence still lives, 
 the most interesting being an incident of the great 
 Chicago fire. He described for me the famous preacher 
 in the midst of a mass of humanity, fleeing from the 
 burning district. The refugees were carrying house- 
 hold articles and personal belongings of almost every 
 description and kind — bedding, clothing, books, dishes 
 and all sorts of odd keepsakes. A little girl had 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 23 
 
 brought her pet bird. She carried the cage with diffi- 
 culty and the crowd jostled her roughly. By and by 
 the crowd became so great and the pressure so strong 
 that the little girl began to cry for the safety of her 
 pet. Dr. Swing heard the sobbing, saw the child's 
 plight, and came at once to her aid. He clasped the 
 little girl's hand in one of his own and with the other 
 lifted high the bird cage above the heads of the people. 
 Thus the great preacher and the little girl went their 
 way through the vast crowd that awful night, and the 
 troubled heart of the child was comforted and con- 
 tented. 
 
 It was after the washing of His disciples' feet that 
 Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you, 
 that ye love one another, even as I have loved you that 
 ye also love one another. By this shall all men know 
 that ye are My disciples if ye have love one for an- 
 other." This, then, is the badge of discipleship; this 
 symbol of the towel and basin; this manifestation of 
 love in deed; by this sign of the towel and basin does 
 Christianity conquer. This, my brethren of the min- 
 istry, is the order for us, not the order of the book 
 and pen, alluring though that ministry may be; nor 
 the order of the office and executive staff, efficient as 
 that kind of service often is, but the order of the towel 
 and the basin — this is the order for all who would 
 follow Jesus Christ. 
 
 Forty years ago Bismarck said that in order to 
 mold the nation it was necessary to mold the child. 
 That is precisely what Germany did and with char- 
 acteristic thoroughness. It is not difficult to account 
 for the unity and solidarity of the German people. 
 
24 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 German statesmen, schoolmasters, preachers, and par- 
 ents combined to Prussianize the children of the 
 Empire. The ideal they conspired to keep before the 
 child in the home, school, and church is seen in this 
 excerpt from the writings of a distinguished Prussian : 
 "When our young children have scarce learned to 
 fold their little hands before God, we set a picture be- 
 fore them; we tell them to recognize the noblest fea- 
 tures; we tell them, 'This is our good King.' Our 
 young men, when they are of age to bear arms, look 
 with joy and pride on the trim garb of war and say, 'I 
 go in the king's coat.' And when the nation assembles 
 to a common political celebration the occasion is no 
 feast of the constitution, no day of the Bastille, no 
 Panathenaic festival. It is then that we bow in rever- 
 ence and loyalty before him who has allowed us to see 
 with our own eyes that for which our fathers dreamed 
 and yearned, before him who ever extends the bounds 
 of the kingdom in freedom, prosperity, and righteous- 
 ness; before his majesty, the emperor and king." 
 
 What is it that society most needs at this hour? 
 Surely the world is sick and civilization is stricken with 
 a deadly malady. Numerous indeed are the remedies 
 that are suggested. Some say a revival of conscience, 
 of common honesty, of simple truthfulness is impera- 
 tive; others clamor for a new economic order, an in- 
 ternational comity, a world sense of social justice; still 
 others contend that ajl is hopeless until there be a 
 new evaluation of spiritual verities. But one distin- 
 guished American when asked by a friend this question, 
 startled him with the reply that the country's greatest 
 
THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 
 
 25 
 
 need is an Emperor. Then he added, "And that 
 Emperor's name is Jesus Christ." 
 
 Behold our Emperor! Behold Him girded with a 
 towel, and kneeling as He washes His disciples' feet. 
 Behold Him there in the upper room ! No warlike ap- 
 parel, no breast emblazoned with decorations and in- 
 signia, no sword in His hand or at His side. Behold 
 Him the mightiest of the holy and the holiest of the 
 mighty, teaching the supremacy of service, the holiness 
 of ministration, the Godlikeness of love ! Behold Him, 
 believe Him, and follow Him, O members of the order 
 of the Towel and Basin! 
 
II 
 
 WHEN JESUS WROTE OX THE GROUND 
 
 "The Scarlet Letter" in our Lord's Time. An Ex- 
 position of John 8 : i - 1 1 
 
John 8:1-11. 
 
 [But Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 
 And early in the morning He came again into 
 the temple, and all the people came unto Him; 
 and He sat down, and taught them. And the 
 scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken 
 in adultery; and having set her in the midst, 
 they say unto Him, Teacher, this woman hath 
 been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now 
 in the law Moses commanded us to stone such : 
 what then sayest thou of her ? And this they 
 said, trying Him, that they might have 
 whereof to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped 
 down, and with his finger wrote on the 
 ground. But when they continued asking 
 Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto 
 them, He that is without sin among you, let 
 him first cast a stone at her. And again He 
 stooped down, and with His finger wrote on 
 the ground. And they, when they heard it, 
 went out one by one, beginning from the eld- 
 est, even unto the last: and Jesus lifted up 
 Himself, and said unto her, Woman, where 
 are they? Did no man condemn thee? And 
 she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said, 
 Neither do I condemn thee : go thy way ; from 
 henceforth sin no more.] 
 
II 
 
 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 There is a curious fact in connection with this pas- 
 sage of Scripture. In the Revised Version, the eleven 
 verses together with the last verse of the preceding 
 chapter are set off by themselves and bracketed. At 
 the bottom of the page is a notation which reads, 
 "Most of the ancient authorities omit John 7 :53, 8 :i- 
 11. Those which contain it vary much from each 
 other." What does this mean? It means that this 
 particular Scripture is not a part of the original manu- 
 script of John's Gospel. It signifies, not that the inci- 
 dent is unauthentic, but that it is not entitled to a place 
 in this particular book or gospel without explanation. 
 Even a casual student of the Scriptures will observe 
 that the incident has little or no connection with what 
 goes before or comes after; that it breaks in unex- 
 pectedly upon John's quiet discursive narrative. It is 
 an interloper, so to speak, and properly belongs set off 
 and bracketed, by itself. 
 
 The interesting question is, how does an interpola- 
 tion of this kind come about. It is not an isolated in- 
 stance, but one of two or three. The sixteenth chapter 
 of Mark, from the ninth to the nineteenth verses, is of 
 a similar character; that is, it does not belong to the 
 original Gospel of Mark. The explanation is simple. 
 29 
 
30 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 There is recorded in the four Gospels only a small por- 
 tion of what Jesus said and did. John himself says in 
 the last verse of his Gospel, "There are also many other 
 things which Jesus did, the which if they should be 
 written every one, I suppose that even the world itself 
 would not contain the books that should be written." 
 This is, of course, a dramatic and emphatic way of say- 
 ing that only a few of the incidents in the life of Jesus 
 have been preserved in the sacred writings. Before 
 these records were written down in the form that we 
 now have them, they were committed to memory and 
 passed on from person to person orally. It must be 
 true in the very nature of the case that we have only 
 fragments of Jesus' teaching, although they are suffi- 
 cient for their purpose. It would not be at all sur- 
 prising, however, now that the Turk has been driven 
 out of Palestine, that excavations in the vicinity of 
 Jerusalem should reveal additional manuscripts of say- 
 ings and events in His life, and possibly epistles of 
 Paul. 
 
 With these facts in mind we are in a position to un- 
 derstand why this memorable incident is bracketed 
 and set apart in the Revised Version of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. To summarize: it does not belong properly to 
 John's Gospel, but the truth of the incident is not at all 
 questioned. Indeed the episode bears upon its face the 
 credentials of fact. It paints a portrait of Jesus, in 
 perfect keeping with the record of His life in the Gos- 
 pels, in the midst of a very unusual and trying situation. 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 31 
 
 The incident evidently occurred at that period in 
 Jesus' ministry when His popularity with the masses 
 had intensified the hatred of the Scribes and Pharisees 
 against Him. Moreover His denunciation of many of 
 the religious leaders of His day as "Blind guides," 
 "Hypocrites," "Whited sepulchers," had fed their 
 wrath to a white heat. Thus while He is teaching in 
 the Temple the Scribes and the Pharisees bring a 
 woman before Him, and charge her with having broken 
 the seventh commandment. They testify against her 
 and aver that beyond any doubt she is guilty. They 
 cite with unction the Law of Moses, which commanded 
 such a transgressor to be stoned, and submit the case 
 to Jesus with the query, "What then sayest Thou of 
 her?" 
 
 Now the purpose of this most unusual occurrence is 
 indicated in the sixth verse, "That they might have 
 whereof to accuse Him." They did not bring the 
 woman to Jesus because they were deeply grieved or 
 shocked at her conduct. They were not interested in 
 the morals of Jerusalem particularly. They brought 
 her that they might confuse and entrap Jesus. There 
 is something diabolical in such a purpose, and the 
 method the enemies of Jesus resorted to in this instance 
 to carry it out. To come bringing this woman into the 
 presence of Jesus with such a charge reveals a hardness 
 of heart that is almost incredible. The wily Scribes 
 and Pharisees tried upon numerous occasions to entrap 
 Jesus in His talk, but in no other record of their malig- 
 nant trickery is there such a vehicle employed as in this 
 
32 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 incident. They simply took advantage of the guilt of 
 this woman to further their own evil designs against 
 Jesus. They reasoned that He would be disconcerted, 
 to say the least. They believed they had Him between 
 the horns of a dilemma, and that they had Him fast. 
 If He said "let the woman die in accordance with the 
 Law of Moses," they could frame an accusation against 
 Him before Pilate, that this new King or religious 
 teacher was actually presuming to judge cases involving 
 life and death. If, on the other hand, He bade them to 
 let the woman go, they could charge Him with heretical 
 teaching, and brand Him as a traverser of the Law of 
 Moses. We may believe that they fairly chortled in 
 their malicious glee. 
 
 The scene was one of shameful depravity, a strange 
 commingling of indelicacy and brazen effrontery. Be- 
 hold that strange court! There is the calm and pure- 
 hearted, clear-eyed Christ; there the company of 
 Scribes and Pharisees, self-righteous, hating the Gali- 
 lean teacher, congratulating themselves that they have 
 caught Him at last in the snare from which He cannot 
 escape; and there in the midst is the pitiful spectacle of 
 the woman charged with the transgression of the Law. 
 The poor woman shrinks from such cruel and uncalled- 
 for public arraignment, knowing full well that her 
 accusers have not haled her before this Teacher be- 
 cause they are shocked by her guilt or interested in the 
 morals of Jerusalem. It is a most unlovely scene. No 
 wonder few sermons are preached upon this incident, 
 or that commentaries touch lightly upon this fragment 
 appended to John's Gospel. 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 33 
 
 n 
 
 It is difficult to portray what must have been the 
 feelings of Jesus, but there is a wealth of suggestion 
 as shown by His actions that followed this unseemly 
 act. Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger 
 on the ground. The very act is significant and is one 
 of those little human touches which bring Jesus close 
 to us. For instance, a friend engages you in conver- 
 sation at a street corner. The talk takes a personal 
 turn, and as you listen you draw lines or figures in the 
 dust of the street with the toe of your shoe, your cane 
 or umbrella. Or again, you are talking over the tele- 
 phone, and the while you draw pictures or make fig- 
 ures on a piece of paper, or scribble on the cover of 
 the telephone directory. This is characteristic of hu- 
 man nature; it is sometimes a token of emotion or 
 confusion, oftener a mere diversion. In Jesus' case, 
 however, it indicated something more than embarrass- 
 ment and something less than confusion. The sheer 
 coarseness of the thing, the indelicacy of the act on 
 the part of the woman's accusers of bringing her before 
 Him; their malignant desire to entrap Him — all this 
 reacted upon the keen mind and pure heart of Jesus 
 in such a way that He did not care to look upon the 
 guilty woman, nor meet the impudent stare of her hard- 
 hearted accusers. Therefore, He stooped down and 
 wrote on the ground. 
 
 The accusers of the woman mistook the action of 
 Jesus. They thought they saw in His averted face 
 and His writing upon the ground confusion and deep 
 embarrassment. They assumed He did not know how 
 
34 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 to answer them. Therefore, they pressed Him the 
 more for an answer. Alas ! for them, they got an an- 
 swer they little expected. Jesus lifted Himself up and 
 said unto them, "He that is without sin among you 
 let him first cast a stone at her." Then He stooped 
 down and with His finger again wrote on the ground. 
 That was a surprise to the group of Scribes and 
 Pharisees. They never surmised such an answer as 
 that. Instantly each man was compelled to sit in judg- 
 ment upon himself. Immediately after Jesus' answer, 
 not only the accused but the accusers were on trial. In 
 this connection there is a most interesting flashlight 
 upon this entire passage of Scripture. The notation in 
 the Revised Version informs us that this incident varies 
 much in the various manuscripts where it is found. In 
 one of the manuscripts there is a startling difference in 
 the eighth verse. The sentence is made to say, "He 
 wrote upon the ground the sins of each single one of 
 them," and the ninth verse, "And they when they read 
 it, went out one by one, beginning from the eldest 
 even unto the last." This gives an extra dramatic 
 setting to Jesus' answer and the writing on the ground. 
 
 Imagine the scene according to this reading. The 
 Pharisees bring in the woman, they make their charge. 
 Jesus, affecting not to hear them, writes on the ground 
 They continue to badger Him until He looks up and 
 says, "He that is without sin among you let him first 
 cast a stone at her." Then again he stoops down and 
 writes upon the ground. What is He writing there? 
 The foremost Pharisee is, of course, the oldest, for 
 according to the custom of the Orient the oldest in the 
 company is at the front. This old Pharisee looks down 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 35 
 
 on the ground where Jesus is writing, and there he 
 sees that Jesus has just written the record of a great 
 sin that he has committed, and which he thinks is 
 known to no one but himself. His conscience awakes 
 with a flash. He turns swiftly and edges away from 
 the crowd. Jesus has swept His hand across the ground 
 to smooth it over and writes again. The next Pharisee 
 reads and recognizes a hidden scene in his life, and he 
 too, flees, and thus it goes on until all the accusers one 
 by one, having seen written on the ground their own 
 secret sin, depart silently and swiftly, leaving the 
 woman alone with Jesus. 
 
 This version of the memorable incident may not be 
 the correct one, but it is interesting and precisely to 
 the point. Whether or not Jesus actually wrote on the 
 ground the specific sin of each man, His very act of 
 silence and of eloquent indictment sent a chill of self- 
 judgment to every man's soul. What ! only those with- 
 out sin cast a stone at this sinful woman. It was an 
 embarrassing answer. It went straight home. Not a 
 man could meet the test. They went out from the eldest 
 to the youngest, having adjudged themselves to be 
 guilty. There is a far-reaching rebuke and warning 
 in the answer of Jesus to the Scribes and Pharisees. 
 Nothing is easier than the picking out of a person who 
 has committed a notorious sin and in self-righteous 
 pride pointing the finger of scorn at the poor unfortu- 
 nate. It has been one of the travesties of justice that 
 individuals have been made to suffer for crimes, 
 while communities that were particeps criminis have 
 gone scot-free. Every wrong that is committed by an 
 individual has in one way or another a rootage in the 
 
36 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 wrong of a community. We are under obligation to 
 revise our methods of dealing with sin and transgres- 
 sion of the moral law. As members of society we are 
 in part to blame. Each one of us has a share in the 
 crime of poverty, drunkenness, and the long list of sins. 
 Not each one of us is individually guilty, but we are a 
 part of an order of society that has produced and some- 
 times fostered these delinquencies. 
 
 in 
 
 The accusers one by one go away and Jesus is left 
 alone with the accused. Again it is not difficult to 
 imagine the scene. There is Jesus with His stainless 
 life, His pure heart and clean mind; and there before 
 Him is the woman who feels in her soul the search- 
 ing purity of the Teacher to whom she has been 
 brought. She makes bold to look in His eyes and 
 upon His face, and in the presence of such wholeness 
 of character, she sees her own life, and away deep 
 down chords begin to vibrate that have been silent 
 for years. What will Jesus do with the woman ? Will 
 He rebuke her? Will He deal with her as He did with 
 the Scribes and Pharisees? Never. He lifted Himself 
 up and said unto her, "Woman, where are they? Did 
 no man condemn thee?" And she said, "No man, 
 Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee; 
 go thy way, from henceforth sin no more." Jesus saw 
 that this woman was self-condemned, and out of peni- 
 tence there comes always a new life. He sought to 
 restore confidence and impart hope to this woman by 
 letting her know that He believed in her. Others 
 might expect her to sin; He expected her to abandon 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 37 
 
 sin. The very attitude that Jesus took toward her 
 brought about a new attitude on her part toward her 
 sin. There is no making light of her sin on Jesus' 
 part, but the dealing with the situation in such a way 
 as to bring about repentance which is a ceasing to do 
 evil and a learning to do well. 
 
 We do not know what became of this woman. She 
 drops out of the narrative as abruptly as she came in, 
 but we may believe that from that hour she was a 
 changed soul. The recollection of that experience 
 would be a memory to bless and burn. We have a 
 right to believe that she went away from the presence 
 of Jesus that memorable day with hope singing in her 
 heart. Oh, that the world would begin to deal with 
 men and women according to the standard of Jesus 
 Christ. Society has been slow to adopt the single 
 standard of morality. Woman is the age-old sufferer 
 — man the long time privileged sex. On the whole this 
 is "a man's world." Only since the great war has 
 England placed both sexes on an equality in the matter 
 of divorce. Hitherto the husband could divorce his 
 wife for infidelity to the marriage vow, the wife had 
 no recourse against her husband for a similar wrong. 
 In one of our states, until a few years ago, the law 
 permitted a husband to obtain a divorce upon proof of 
 a single violation of the marriage vow, while the wife 
 was compelled to prove habitual violation on the part 
 of her husband. The debt of woman to the teachings 
 and spirit of Jesus is unpayably great. He championed 
 her rights as He did the rights of the child. In this 
 singularly impressive incident of the lone woman and 
 her accusers, there is more than a suggestion of the 
 
38 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 right method to pursue in dealing with sin and society. 
 Penalizing the woman and letting the man go free is 
 neither just nor expedient. 
 
 "Christ's method of dealing with the social evil," 
 said Dr. Lyman Abbott, "is in principle precisely the 
 same as His method of dealing with crime — the method, 
 not of permission and regulation, not of mere prohibi- 
 tion and punishment, but of compassion and cure. It 
 is the method which Christian charity is pursuing with 
 reasonable measure of success in individual cases — but, 
 alas! in too few. It condemns licentiousness in man 
 and woman alike — in one no less than in the other. In 
 so far as this licentiousness is a violation of the social 
 order, Christ's method would prohibit it by law. The 
 lawbreaker would be arrested, not to be punished for 
 her sin, but to be cured of it, to be separated from the 
 evil influences which would lead her into paths of vir- 
 tue, and wherever the cure could not be effected, to be 
 kept in confinement for the rest of her life, not to pun- 
 ish her for past sin, but to protect her and to protect 
 the community from sin in the future. Not until our 
 civilization shall have wrought out in life what Haw- 
 thorne wrought out in 'The Scarlet Letter' and the 
 man takes his stand in the pillory by the woman, and 
 the scarlet letter is on the breast of the one as on the 
 breast of the other, and both alike bear the ineffable 
 shame, and each helps the other back to the ineffable 
 glory, shall we find Christ's remedy." 
 
 In connection with this Scripture I recall an episode 
 which will remain with me as long as memory lasts. 
 A member of the church to which I minister brought 
 to my study a young woman whom she had res- 
 
WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 39 
 
 cued from the streets. The girl — for she was little 
 more — was the victim of betrayal, and had been driven 
 away from her makeshift of a home and deserted. She 
 was different from most of her type, the charm of 
 modesty was not all gone, the bloom of maidenhood had 
 not been entirely destroyed. She was broken utterly 
 and desired to begin life all over again and accept Jesus 
 as her Saviour and Friend. She had had little, if any, 
 religious training and knew scarcely nothing of the 
 content of the Scriptures, even the Gospels. As I 
 looked at her I was deeply touched by her plight. She 
 resembled a beautiful winged butterfly that had been 
 caught in a driving rain, beaten to earth, bruised and 
 unable to fly. I found speech difficult and decided to 
 read to her from the New Testament. Something 
 prompted me to turn to this passage from St. John 
 which I read slowly and without comment. When I 
 had finished I looked up to see before me a face trans- 
 figured, though suffused with tears. Her eyes were 
 wet but eloquent with the speech her tongue could not 
 tell ; they spoke as so many words and said : "Is that 
 in the Bible? Did Jesus say that? O, God be praised ! 
 there is hope and pardon for me, even me!" 
 
Ill 
 
 THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 
 
 A Summit View From the Mount Blanc of the 
 Scriptures 
 
John 17:4. 
 
 I glorified Thee on the earth, having accom- 
 plished the work which Thou hast given me 
 to do. 
 
 John 17:15. 
 
 I pray not that Thou shouldest take them 
 from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep 
 them from the evil one. 
 
 John 17:19. 
 
 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, tha£ 
 they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 
 
 John 17:20-21. 
 
 Neither for these only do I pray, but for 
 them also that believe on me through their 
 word ; that they may all be one ; even as Thou, 
 Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they 
 also may be in us : that the world may believe 
 Thou didst send me. 
 
 John 17:26. 
 I in them. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 
 
 When John Knox, the famous Scotch reformer, 
 was dying, his wife sat by his bedside and asked if she 
 should read from the Word. "Yes," he replied, "where 
 I first cast anchor." Thereupon she read from John, 
 the seventeenth chapter. As the dying man grew 
 weaker and the power of speech failed him, another 
 standing by called to him loudly as to one journeying 
 afar, "John Knox, hast thou hope?" He slowly lifted 
 his finger and pointed upward. That was all, and that 
 was enough. 
 
 Others besides Knox have called for this chapter as 
 the lamp of life grew dim. It is said of Bossuet, the 
 renowned French preacher, that by his request this 
 chapter was read to him sixty times during his last 
 illness. Profounder Scripture than this there is not 
 in all the Bible. It is the great High Priestly prayer of 
 our Lord, and there is none like it. In the course of his 
 last lecture given shortly before his death, Melanchthon 
 said : "There is no voice which has ever been heard 
 either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, 
 more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered 
 up by the son of God." Fitting, is it not, that at the 
 close of his most remarkable discourse there should 
 follow this most remarkable of His prayers? The 
 43 
 
44 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 twenty-six verses of this chapter fall naturally into four 
 sections : First, Jesus' prayer for Himself ; second, 
 Jesus' prayer for His disciples ; third, Jesus' prayer for 
 subsequent believers; and fourth, a final confidential 
 utterance from Son to Father. 
 
 One approaches this intercessory prayer of Jesus' 
 with something akin to awe. A great and devout stu- 
 dent of the Scriptures who spent a life interpreting and 
 proclaiming the Gospel, never felt himself equal to at- 
 tempt a sermon on John seventeen. It is possible to 
 understand such a view without endorsing it. For the 
 same reason an artist might refuse to paint the ocean 
 because the waters of the great deep are so vast and 
 wonderful; or hesitate to put a mountain scene upon 
 canvas because, at its best, such a picture would be 
 partial and incomplete. This great prayer has been 
 preserved, not merely for our admiration, but for our 
 study and instruction. It may be remarked in passing 
 that the key words of the chapter are "glorify," "keep," 
 and "sanctify." 
 
 I 
 
 "i GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH ; HAVING ACCOM- 
 PLISHED THE WORK WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME TO 
 DO. AND NOW, FATHER, GLORIFY THOU ME WITH 
 THINE OWN SELF WITH THE GLORY WHICH I HAD 
 
 with thee before the world was." The marvel of 
 these words is twofold. They show that God is glori- 
 fied most by a life obedient to His will; that character, 
 and not time, is most necessary in order to do our 
 work. There is something positively sublime in the 
 attitude of Jesus here, as fully conscious that He had 
 
THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 45 
 
 yielded perfect obedience to the Father's will. This is 
 something more than "Well done, thou good and faith- 
 ful servant." Here is a life owning such one-ness with 
 the Father and consciousness of duty done, so as to be 
 able to say in truth, "Father, I have done Thy will on 
 earth as it is done in heaven." Only thirty-three years 
 of life and yet completion crowns Jesus' career. What 
 orderliness there was in His life, no haste, no flurry, 
 no perturbation, but calm and quiet doing of His work 
 to the end. How such lofty achievements contrast with 
 our lives, so incomplete, so fitful, so feverish, and un- 
 finished. Thus a great scientist nearing the end of 
 his course cried: "Oh, that I had another century to 
 live! I have just begun to learn." Thus an eminent 
 author, when informed by his physician that he was 
 incurably ill, thought of his unfinished manuscript and 
 exclaimed, "Oh, my book, my book!" Likewise Arch- 
 bishop Ussher prayed with dying breath, "O God, for- 
 give my sins, especially my sins of omission." Con- 
 sider our own lives, how fragmentary they are, and 
 particularly our lives as confessed followers of the 
 Christ. Why, we have not fairly begun to live in 
 Him. We are mere novices in the school of prayer ; we 
 are unacquainted with great and rich expanses of His 
 holy Word; we are in the primary grade in the things 
 of the Spirit. Oh, the things undone, what a host 
 they are! "Unfinished!" we exclaim, and truthfully. 
 Yet we catch glimpses here of a way of life possible to 
 us beyond anything we have ever dared to dream. We 
 learn here that life cannot be reckoned by figures on a 
 dial, or dates on the calendar. Three and thirty years 
 He lived in the narrow confines of a little strip of 
 
46 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 territory not great in the eyes of the world, neverthe- 
 less, Jesus could say, "I have finished the work Thou 
 hast given me to do." 
 
 It is because He has finished His God-given task 
 that Jesus is able to pray to the Father, asking that 
 He glorify Him with the glory which He had, before 
 the world was. The life with which we have to do in 
 this chapter of chapters, neither began nor ended in 
 the Palestinian country. Geography can have little, if 
 any, bearing upon things Eternal. "Before Abraham 
 was, I am." Thus He once spoke simply and as a 
 matter of course of the life He had with the Father 
 before "the World was." In Christ, and only in Him, 
 have we an understandable conception of eternal life; 
 our relation to God and to one another in the terms of 
 the Spirit. Nor are we to think of Eternal life as 
 merely the prolongation of our days, but a life under 
 new conditions and deriving power from new sources. 
 A life of one dimension, however extended, is not neces- 
 sarily a full or desirable life. To summarize Christ's 
 prayer for Himself : He presents Himself as the duti- 
 ful Son, who has glorified the Father by perfect obedi- 
 ence; a life like a perfect mirror reflecting untarnished 
 the glory of God Himself. That a mere human being 
 could ever pray like this is difficult to believe. There 
 is a grandeur and a sublimity in this intercessory prayer 
 that is of the Infinite. It is of a humanity exalted to 
 the highest degree plus a divinity as potent as it is 
 difficult of definition. 
 
THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 47 
 
 ii 
 
 "i PRAY NOT THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE THEM 
 OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT THAT THOU SHOULDEST KEEP 
 
 them from evil." Jesus prays now for His dis- 
 ciples. They had been with Him for nearly three 
 years; they had continued with Him through His 
 temptations; they were His pupils, His friends, His 
 companions ; or, to use a pastoral word that Jesus loved, 
 His "sheep." During the years He was with them 
 He had been their shepherd, and now that He must 
 leave them the flock will be scattered. Therefore He 
 commends them to the Father tenderly and compas- 
 sionately ; but He does not ask that they be taken from 
 the world ; He prays that they may be saved from evil. 
 Some have eloquently advocated the separation of 
 Christians from the world in order to be safe from its 
 seductions. Thus, the members of certain religious or- 
 ders withdraw from the world, take the vow of perpet- 
 ual silence and become as living dead men. But such a 
 manner of life does not bring immunity from tempta- 
 tion; one has to struggle and battle with himself even 
 on a desert isle or in a hermit's cave. Moreover, such 
 a way of life is not without its selfish side. What is 
 the meaning of the New Testament terms "Salt of the 
 earth," "Light of the world," and "leaven" unless they 
 teach a witnessing for Christ where there be men and 
 women to know, to see, to hear ? The disciples were in 
 the world of sin, suffering, and death, but not of the 
 world that perishes, the world of mere sight and sound 
 and touch. Jesus accomplished His ministry among 
 the people, with the people and for the people. He 
 
48 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 "went about doing good." He visited the people in 
 their homes; mingled with them on the street; sailed 
 with them on Galilee; met with them in the synagogue; 
 and during the first part of His ministry the multitude 
 thronged Him on every side. Wherever Jesus went 
 He brought with Him such a sense of God's presence 
 that men, women and children were never the same 
 again. For such a way of life of the part of His 
 disciples He now prays. He does not pray that John, 
 Peter, James, or any of His disciples be taken out of 
 the midst of the teeming life of the world in order that 
 they may be removed from evil. He prays that they 
 remain in the world and be kept from evil. And that 
 is His prayer for you and for me, fellow-disciple of the 
 Lord. We are not to flee from the crowd, nor avoid 
 contact with people ; we are to mingle freely with them ; 
 our lot is cast with them ; we be brethren and neighbors, 
 children of one Father, all. 
 
 Mingling thus with our fellows daily and amidst 
 error, we are to witness for the truth ; amidst the fleet- 
 ing and falling things witness for "the things that 
 cannot be shaken" ; in a generation which regards sin 
 lightly, witness for Him Whom the sins of others put 
 to death. Jesus was holy, but God be praised, His holi- 
 ness did not restrain Him from touching the hand of 
 the leper, from declining an invitation to the homes 
 of the publicans and sinners, or from embarrassing 
 Him in His conversation with the woman at the well 
 of Jacob. He was in the world of suffering, sorrow, 
 joy, gladness, but not of the sinful world of sight and 
 sound and appetite. And this is the great ideal He has 
 left for His disciples. To love mankind and be willing 
 
THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 49 
 
 to serve the least and lowliest; to be very much and 
 often in the darkest and foulest places of earth, and 
 there bear a flaming torch and bring a spirit of purity, 
 is to be Christian where the need is the deepest and re- 
 demption the most Christlike. If sin cannot be segre- 
 gated, neither can holiness be isolated. 
 
 in 
 
 "AND FOR THEIR SAKES I SANCTIFY MYSELF THAT 
 THEY ALSO MIGHT BE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE 
 
 truth." Jesus is still praying for His disciples and 
 He continues to pray earnestly, wonderfully. He says, 
 "I consecrate," — for that is what the word sanctify 
 means, and is so placed in the margin of the Revised 
 Version. "I consecrate myself for their sake that they 
 also might be consecrated to the truth." This is ex- 
 alted doctrine; this is supreme service; this is sacri- 
 fice of self-sublime. He lays Himself upon the altar, 
 so to speak, but not to be consumed merely to be con- 
 sumed. A basic principle of Christ's teaching and life 
 is not to value any act, however good and noble, for the 
 act's sake, but for the sake of others. Torture for 
 suffering's sake differs little from pleasure for pleas- 
 ure's sake. Self -surrender is at the heart of conversion 
 and is fundamental in the Christian life. "Christ 
 pleased not Himself," we read; and did He not say of 
 Himself, "I do always the things that are pleasing to 
 God." He surrendered His will to the will of God for 
 the sake of all God's children. When He hung upon 
 the cross and His enemies tauntingly cried, "He saved 
 others, Himself He cannot save," they spoke more 
 truthfully than they knew. He could not save Himself 
 
50 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 and others too. It is easy to talk about self-denial ; it 
 is another and a harder thing to practice it as a rule 
 of life. It is comparatively easy to deny oneself certain 
 things on certain days or seasons of the year, but to 
 deny oneself and surrender one's will to God, — that is 
 a far more fundamental and significant act. This idea 
 of "others," is all through the life and ministry of our 
 Lord. It is in the mystery of the atonement; it is 
 woven throughout the warp and woof of the ordinances, 
 baptism and communion of our Lord's Supper, but 
 it has not yet won the hearts of the multitude who pro- 
 fess Christianity. The thought of society today is not 
 of "others" but of self, self, self. In every phase of 
 life self obtrudes. Self dies hard when it dies at all. 
 Self has a way of blinding and deluding us. Self- 
 interests protest against absolute surrender to God's 
 will; self chides us and whispers, "fanatic," "fool," 
 "pietist"; self seeks to stifle us and smother into silence 
 our attempt to say, "Thy will be done." 
 
 Consecration is a word often on our lips but seldom 
 observable in our lives in fullness and power. So- 
 ciety knows the meaning of the word in part and 
 within circles or groups, but not largely or richly. In- 
 dividuals have taught us what consecration is, especially 
 mothers who freely give their all for son or daughter. 
 Here and there a great soul marches straight to Calvary 
 for the sake of a mighty cause, but consecration for 
 others in the large, in business, national and inter- 
 national relations, has not yet captured the hearts of the 
 world. Even at this late day a prominent captain of 
 industry scoffs at the idea of the golden rule in busi- 
 ness, or the teaching of the "Sermon on the Mount" 
 
THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 51 
 
 in politics. On the other hand there is a dynamic 
 minority of wide influence who stand ready to bear 
 witness to the law of "others" in every realm of so- 
 ciety, willing to pay the fullest price, ready "to kiss 
 the Cross." 
 
 IV 
 
 "that they all May be one as thou, father, 
 art in me and i in thee : that they may be one in 
 us." Jesus is now praying for all the disciples that 
 are yet to be ; for the Church and its vast membership ; 
 praying for the unity of all His followers in the closest 
 possible spiritual unity, even as Christ is in the Father 
 and the Father in Christ. To read these words and 
 then to peruse church history, or merely to look about 
 us and behold the divided state of Christendom, is to 
 experience the emotion of indignation, if not of despair. 
 
 In America alone the Church is represented by one 
 hundred and fifty denominations. The spectacle of 
 controversies and bickerings and sectarian bigotry is 
 mean and ugly when compared with the spirit of this 
 intercessory prayer of our Lord. Let it be granted 
 that this prayer is for spiritual unity; it is that, of 
 course, but a spiritual unity should result in a visible 
 unity, beautiful to behold, glorious to experience. It 
 cannot mean uniformity of method; it does mean a 
 unity of spiritual power and of faith and of fellowship 
 that will reveal to the world a united and indivisible 
 Church, powerful and triumphant. When the disciples 
 of our Lord are united in Him even as "He and the 
 Father are one," the world will not longer doubt the 
 Divine mission of Jesus. The trouble is that thousands 
 
52 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 are united to human creeds, fettered to antiquated the- 
 ologies; are glorifying human leaders; enslaved to 
 human traditions; and so yield an anaemic will and a 
 divided heart to Christ. As long as we continue to 
 glory in men, and delight to set one man over against 
 another, glorying in one and anathematizing the other, 
 divisions will continue. My brethren, is not the diffi- 
 culty our meager spirituality? We have everything ex- 
 cept the power, for the power comes of the spirit. "If 
 any man hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of 
 His." The beginning of such a unity as Christ prayed 
 for is the union of the individual disciple with his Lord. 
 This is not a doctrine; it is an experience. It is not 
 something believed ; it is something felt and known and 
 demonstrated. 
 
 Christian Unity, if it ever flower, must have its root- 
 age in the life of the spirit, in the sweet soil of the 
 soul. As the disciples tarried at Jerusalem for Pente- 
 cost they experienced a unity that was potent for every 
 good thing. It should be remembered that they were 
 united because they were prayerful. Their unity was 
 the result of their prayers, not their prayer fulness of 
 their unity. Uniformity may be realized without 
 prayer, but never unity — which is a spiritual experience, 
 not a form or method. 
 
 At the close of this prayer Jesus uses a pregnant 
 phrase; namely, "I in them." St. Paul employs a simi- 
 lar phrase when he writes : "Christ in us the hope of 
 glory." And still again, "I have been crucified with 
 Christ; no longer do I live; but Christ lives in me." 
 One of the foremost educators in England had a son 
 who was slow-witted. His mind was strangely dulled 
 
THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 53 
 
 because of some disease of babyhood. The ordinary 
 teachers failed with the boy; they could get nowhere 
 with him. Then the father took charge — that great 
 soul, whose mind was one of the best trained in all 
 Europe, whose personality was rich and wholesome 
 throughout. That strapping six- footed father some- 
 how let himself right down into the inner life of that 
 little slow-witted son. Very slowly, but steadily and 
 wonderfully the mind of the boy began to expand. The 
 father companied with him day after day. Slowly but 
 surely the mind of the lad began to show extraordinary 
 development. He commenced to lead his classes; he 
 finished the lower schools with honor; lo! he went to 
 Oxford and carried off the prize. The secret of his 
 success was that his father became part of the very life 
 of his son ; that in a strange, yet very practical, fashion, 
 that father was himself and his son at the same time. 
 If an earthly father can be himself and in his son at 
 the same time, if an earthly father can be in his son 
 in so wonderful a way, how much more can God be 
 in His children with transforming power. 
 
 It is with this thought "I in them" that Jesus con- 
 cludes this memorable prayer, and this fact of Christ 
 in us is the open and puissant secret of Christian power 
 and victory. 
 
IV 
 
 THREE TIMES A DAY 
 A Plea for Fixed Seasons of Private Devotions 
 
Daniel 6:10. 
 
 And when Daniel knew that the writing was 
 signed, he went into his house (now his win- 
 dows were open in his chamber toward Jeru- 
 salem) ; and he kneeled upon his knees three 
 times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks be- 
 fore his God, as he did aforetime. 
 
IV 
 
 THREE TIMES A DAY 
 
 The scene is Babylon, famed for her pomp, her 
 wealth and prodigality. Babylon was a pagan city 
 where pleasure ran riot and iniquity flourished. Liv- 
 ing in Babylon and prominent there, but not of Baby- 
 lon's worldly life, was a prophet of the most High God. 
 Though of alien race and religion, this man, by sheer 
 force of his ability, had been elevated to the high of- 
 fice of Prime Minister. Naturally, Daniel became the 
 target of a thousand jealousies and intrigues. His 
 enemies sought to discover some weakness in his life, 
 some failure in probity wherein they might accuse him 
 to the king. They sought diligently and found noth- 
 ing. They concluded then that the only way in which 
 this faithful servant of the king could be embarrassed 
 and put out of office would be through interference with 
 his religion. His enemies therefore cunningly devised 
 a law and secured its approval by the king that whoever 
 offered a petition to any God save King Darius would 
 be thrown into a den of lions. Such a law once passed 
 in Babylon could not be repealed or modified; it was 
 unalterable and had to be enforced. 
 
 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, it 
 did not affect his way of life in the smallest particular. 
 He went into his house and his windows being open 
 57 
 
58 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his 
 knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks 
 unto his God as he did before. Is it not a superb 
 courage that leads a man to such a decision in the face 
 of death itself? Is not a religion that will bear trans- 
 planting under such conditions a tremendous factor in 
 personal life and in society? But it is not my purpose 
 to make the character of Daniel nor his fidelity to his 
 faith amidst any and all circumstances my theme this 
 morning, though these are inviting subjects and much 
 needed by our times. Instead I want to turn to Daniel's 
 habits of stated prayer as the inspiration for a sermon 
 on the need and power of fixed seasons of private prayer 
 in daily life. 
 
 Three times a day in his own home and on his knees, 
 with his windows open toward Jerusalem, Daniel 
 prayed. Three times a day ! The Holy Scriptures are 
 full of precepts and examples of prayer at certain 
 periods of the day. In one of the Psalms we read: 
 "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord: 
 in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and 
 look up." In another: "Mine eyes prevent the night 
 watches that I might meditate in Thy word." In still 
 another : "I remember thee upon my bed and meditate 
 upon Thee in the night watches." And again : "Even- 
 ing, noon, and morning will I pray, and cry aloud ; and 
 He shall hear my voice." Evening, noon, and morning 
 for prayer to the Heavenly Father — three times a day ! 
 Let us follow the order according to the Psalmist and 
 begin with the — 
 
THREE TIMES A DAY 59 
 
 EVENING 
 
 Most people who pray at all pray in the evening or 
 at night. The need of God's protection and the pres- 
 ence of His brooding spirit is more apparent in dark- 
 ness than in light. When the twilight deepens and the 
 night enshrouds land and sea, doubts and fears hold 
 carnival. In a "Sonnet To Night," pronounced by 
 Coleridge the finest in the English language, Joseph 
 Blanco White uses the impressive phrase "Mysterious 
 Night" and then attempts to describe the emotions of 
 primitive man when for the first time he saw the night 
 envelop the earth. Yes, the night is full of mystery, 
 of hidden peril and unknown evil. 
 
 When one lies down to sleep he knows not but that 
 the sleep of life may become the sleep of death. Thus, 
 even in the prayer we teach the children is the phrase — 
 
 If I should die before I wake 
 I pray the Lord my soul to take. 
 
 Yes, by all means there should be prayer at evening, 
 after the day is done and the work ended. It is good 
 to come to the Father then just as we are, and ere we 
 seek rest in sleep to lay before Him the happenings 
 of the day — defeats, victories, griefs, disappointments, 
 joys, hopes, yearnings, all — and He who knoweth our 
 frame will understand. Yes, prayer at evening for 
 forgiveness, for cleansing of mind and heart, for rest 
 in sleep — that gift of God which knits up the raveled 
 sleeve of care, restores worn tissues, and revives droop- 
 ing spirits. 
 
 Prayer at evening becomes us all. It affords a 
 unique opportunity to think God's thoughts after Him. 
 
60 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Dr. Horace Bushnell confessed that he fell asleep 
 every night while talking with God. Thus, too, a great 
 German theologian and scholar was accustomed before 
 going to bed to bow his head like a little child and say 
 — "Thank God it is the same with us as it was before. 
 Nothing has come between us ; Thou art my Father and 
 I am Thy child." In like manner an aged woman, 
 long a sturdy Believer and trustful Disciple of the 
 Lord, repeated as she lay in bed, over and over again, 
 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is in me; 
 bless His holy name." Thus quoting from the one 
 hundred and third Psalm she would fall asleep, her 
 room fragrant with the peace of God. The building 
 of character does not cease with our waking hours. 
 The mind is not entirely inactive, the thoughts that 
 linger in the brain as sleep comes on are potent surely. 
 Well it is for us to sink into slumber with the thought 
 that the Great Shepherd is watching over us — that 
 Shepherd of our souls who neither slumbers nor sleeps. 
 The insomnia of God is a blessed truth, and the thought 
 of it may help bring blessed peace to wearied eyes, rest 
 to worn and shattered nerves, sleep to a distraught and 
 uneasy mind. 
 
 NOON 
 
 The Psalmist affirmed that he would pray at the 
 noon hour, and for most of us that is an unusual 
 prayer season. It is a time when the vigor and light 
 of the sun is at its zenith. The whole world seems 
 throbbingly alive at noon-day, and yet it is a period 
 of pause and a time of refreshment and relaxation. In 
 the country the dinner bell summons the farmer from 
 
THREE TIMES A DAY 
 
 61 
 
 the field and there is a brief span of rest for man and 
 beast. In the great cities, shops, factory and office 
 buildings pour forth their flood of human-kind at the 
 noon hour. The cafes L the restaurants, the hotels are 
 filled with people eating and drinking; the children are 
 home from school; it is a time of sociability and a 
 period of release from the exactions of duties and 
 responsibilities. 
 
 Few people pray at noontide. There seems to be less 
 need of it than at any other time. If the sun be shin- 
 ing, his rays are never so garish as at the noon hour. 
 The world is bathed in sunshine and light. Perhaps 
 we feel freer from need of Divine help and more ready 
 to abandon ourselves to relaxation at the noon hour 
 than at any other period of the day. But one needs 
 God and a realization of His presence then as well as 
 at other times. "We stumble at noon-day as in the 
 twilight," acknowledged Isaiah. A few moments of 
 private devotion at noon, the bowing of the head while 
 sitting at the desk or standing at an open window, look- 
 ing out over the roofs of nearby buildings, or if it be 
 in the country, gazing upon the quiet field, the wood- 
 lands or the mountains. In such a manner may one en- 
 joy the privilege of prayer at noontide. 
 
 It has been suggested that noon is the best of all 
 times to pray for the world, and in this connection it 
 has been said that when it is noon in Britain the largest 
 portion of the earth is in light ; that when it is twelve 
 o'clock in London it is eight o'clock in the evening in 
 China, and it is four o'clock in the morning on the 
 Pacific Coast of America. Precisely what o'clock it 
 may be elsewhere when it is midday here, I do not know, 
 
62 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 save that it surely is midnight somewhere for millions 
 of God's children. How fitting a period to pray for 
 the peoples of all Nations, and particularly the mis- 
 sionaries in China, in Japan, in Tibet, in India, in the 
 Philippines, in the Islands of the Sea, at noon. How 
 blessed to remember the missionaries of the Cross — 
 men, women and little children — at the noon hour. At 
 high noon the hands on the clocks point straight up- 
 ward. Time, too, to look up and pray to the Father 
 of us all. 
 
 MORNING 
 
 Prayer at the beginning of the day is peculiarly fit- 
 ting. Alas! of the great host of people who pray in 
 the evening, but few keep the morning watch. We 
 feel the need of prayer at night, and pray accordingly, 
 but in the morning, with light streaming all about us, 
 the need seems not so great. Alas, millions begin the 
 day prayerlessly. Now of all hours of day or night 
 the morning provides the most radiant of seasons for 
 communion with God. If there be mystery in the dark- 
 ness of the night, there is poetry in the glow and glory 
 of the morning. In the early hours of the day the 
 world seems fresh from the Creator's hands — the silent 
 ministry of the dew is moist on grass and flower and 
 tree. A sunrise is never commonplace. In spring- 
 time or early fall, or on a clear day in winter, the 
 rising of the sun is a spectacle of wonder and beauty. 
 Lo! the first faint flushes of the eastern sky, the clear 
 notes of bird songs, soft breezes stirring in the branches 
 of the trees, and then the sun lifts himself above the 
 horizon like a great globe of fire, and earth and sky 
 
THREE TIMES A DAY 
 
 63 
 
 are flooded with a golden glow. Little wonder the 
 maiden in Browning's famous poem sings with ecstasy 
 of sheer delight just to be living — 
 
 The year's at the spring, 
 And day's at the morn; 
 Morning's at seven, 
 The hill-side's dew-pearled; 
 The lark's on the wing, 
 The snail's on the thorn: 
 God's in His heaven — 
 All's right with the world! 
 
 With the dawn of a new day comes the necessity 
 for a walk of faith. Who knows what a day may bring 
 forth? It may bring grief and sorrow, disappoint- 
 ment and defeat. It may offer gifts of victory and a 
 sense of elation. It may bring new friendships or pos- 
 sibilities that can mar or break old friendships! It 
 may be cloudless or stormy, wind-swept or tornado- 
 torn, we cannot know in advance. Therefore we need 
 to begin the day with prayer. The morning has been 
 the favorite prayer-period for most of the great saints 
 of God. Robert Murray McCheyne, one of Scotland's 
 most gifted preachers, says : "I ought to spend the best 
 hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and 
 most fruitful employment and is not to be thrust into 
 a corner. The morning hours of six to eight are the 
 most uninterrupted." Dr. Judson began each day 
 with a period of private devotions with the Father, and 
 gave it as his conviction that "Thou canst leisurely de- 
 vote two or three hours every day to secret prayer 
 and communion with God." David said: "Early will 
 I seek Thee." Christ arose before day and went into 
 a solitary place. David Brainerd, missionary to the 
 
64> WHEN JESUS MOTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Indians, found no day satisfying that did not begin 
 with prayer to God. Martin Luther said : "If I fail 
 to spend two hours in prayer in the morning, the devil 
 gets the victory through the day." G. Campbell Mor- 
 gan is well-known in America. He is an expository 
 preacher par excellence. His books are numerous and 
 widely read. He preaches with power and with unction 
 always. What is the secret of his power ? It is this : 
 For more than a quarter of a century he has spent 
 two hours every morning in prayer and with no other 
 book within reach except the Holy Scriptures. Alex- 
 ander MacLaren who was one of England's greatest 
 of preachers, a strong soul, a prophet of the Almighty, 
 kept the quiet hour every morning from nine until 
 ten, and in the solitude of that silence some of his 
 greatest sermons had their birth. There used to be a 
 celebrated statesman in England who held the post 
 of cabinet minister through a time of stress and great 
 anxiety. This man, more than all the others, was 
 calm, unhurried, possessed, and resourceful. The 
 Prime Minister of that day applied to this cabinet 
 minister an unusual name. He called him "the central 
 calm." He called him this name because the states- 
 man's calmness made him the center of the cabinet 
 meeting. To him the others turned in anxious mo- 
 ments. What gave him calm and peace and power? 
 The statesman's wife made known the secret. She 
 explained that her husband never began a day, however 
 late he was obliged to be up, without a quiet hour with 
 God and the Holy Scriptures. Verily he had meat to 
 eat that his fellow cabinet officers knew not of. 
 
 A "central calm." Is not that what the world needs 
 
THREE TIMES A DAY 65 
 
 in this feverish and chaotic generation? A central 
 calm at Washington, at London, at Tokio, at Paris — 
 yea, a central calm in every capital in the world. A 
 central calm in state, in church, in business, industry, 
 and above all else a central calm in every home; a 
 realization of the presence of Almighty God and a will- 
 ingness to receive the fullness of His power. 
 
 "Evening, noon, and morning," exclaimed the Psalm- 
 ist, "will I pray." Would that we too could say as 
 much. Our need, our greatest need in this hour, as in 
 all other hours, is prayer. The greatest thing a man 
 or woman can do is to pray. Why ? Because by pray- 
 ing we open up a channel for God's power; we throw 
 ourselves into spiritual gear, so to speak. God fills us 
 and uses us mightily. There must be habitual prayer 
 if there be spiritual health. How shall we be able to 
 meet the awful problems of our day; how can we live 
 and move and have our being midst "change and de- 
 cay" without this communion with God? We may 
 exist, but we cannot really live without it. Three times 
 a day ! Is this too often to go to God in personal and 
 private prayer? Not merely three formal periods in 
 which to pray mechanically or professionally, but fixed 
 seasons of the day for real prayer, quiet moments and 
 fruitful moments with our Lord. When we have 
 learned to keep these seasons inviolate, nothing can 
 possibly occur that will throw us off our guard, put us 
 to shame, or really defeat us. God will provide a way 
 when none is in sight; God will meet our weakness 
 with His own strength; God will atmosphere us with 
 poise and victory and make all things beautiful in His 
 time. 
 
66 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 There is a little book much heralded these days — it 
 is entitled "The Daily Dozen" and it is a manual of the 
 simplest kind of physical exercise. Walter Camp, the 
 famous athlete, is the author. It contains twelve ele- 
 mental bodily movements designed to develop muscles 
 little used and to build the body up, if regularly fol- 
 lowed. These exercises are not beneficial if done 
 merely occasionally or spasmodically, but when they are 
 daily used they impart to the body not only suppleness 
 and grace, but they also fortify it against the inroads 
 of disease. Tens of thousands of men and women the 
 country over are following faithfully the instructions 
 in the little book and thereby increasing their physical 
 vigor. 
 
 This is all very well. Bodily exercise profits a great 
 deal, and a well set-up and smooth-running physical 
 system is a sturdy aid in the battle of life. It is easy 
 to forget that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 
 But alas and alack ! — how few exercise the prayer fac- 
 ulty. How anaemic and impoverished and feeble is 
 the prayer life of the average church member. The 
 prayerlessness of the Church is the greatest tragedy of 
 this generation. It is deadening and defeatening. O ! 
 for ten thousand times ten thousand who are willing 
 three times a day to pray with the windows of their 
 soul opened toward the God of Jesus Christ. Given 
 such seasons of spiritual refreshment and Almighty 
 God will bear His arm and shake the community for 
 righteousness, for justice, for newness of life, and the 
 consequent redemption of city, town and county. 
 
 Prayer at evening? — Yes! Prayer at noon? — Yes! 
 Prayer in the morning? — A thunderous YES! 
 
A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 
 
 Some Reflections on the Marvel of the Divine 
 Pursuit 
 
Psalm 139:1-12. 
 
 O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and 
 known me. Thou knowest my downsitting 
 and mine uprising; thou understandest my 
 thought afar off. 
 
 Thou searchest out my path and my lying 
 down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 
 
 For there is not a word in my tongue, hut, 
 lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 
 
 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and 
 laid thine hand upon me. 
 
 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it 
 is high, I cannot attain unto it. 
 
 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or 
 whither shall I flee from thy presence? 
 
 If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; 
 if I make my bed in sheol, behold, Thou art 
 there. 
 
 If I take the wings of the morning, and 
 dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 
 
 Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy 
 right hand shall hold me. 
 
 If I say, Surely the darkness shall over- 
 whelm me, and the light about me shall be 
 night : 
 
 Even the darkness hideth not from Thee, 
 but the night shineth as the day : the darkness 
 and the light are both alike to Thee. 
 
V 
 
 A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 
 
 In the opinion of many devout students of the Scrip- 
 tures, the one hundred and thirty-ninth is the noblest 
 utterance of all the Psalms. A great Scottish theo- 
 logian said, "This is the Psalm which I should wish 
 to have with me on my death -bed." Why should a 
 dying man prefer the one hundred and thirty-ninth 
 Psalm to the tenderer and more familiar portions of 
 the Psalter? This Psalm lacks the pastoral beauty of 
 the twenty-third; the brilliant didactic qualities of the 
 nineteenth; the mournful cadence of the ninetieth; the 
 plaintive tenderness of the one hundred and third ; but 
 it is loftier and more majestic in thought than any one 
 of these or all four. The author is in an exalted mood ; 
 he senses God everywhere ; he conceives of man as be- 
 set by God on every side and pursued by his all-pervad- 
 ing presence. Thus, upon reflection, it is seen that this 
 is a fitting passage of Scripture for one to read as he 
 faces some impending and unknown vicissitude or, 
 awaits "the great teacher — death." For the Psalmist 
 is sure not only that God is, but also that He is pur- 
 suing him persistently and not in anger but in love. 
 
 The exalted mood of the Psalmist in this 139th 
 composition is worthy of comment. He finds God 
 everywhere. He finds him at once and without diffi- 
 69 
 
70 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 culty. How different his mood from that of Job who, 
 in an experience of depression and doubt exclaimed, "O, 
 that I knew where I might find Him; that I might 
 even come to His seat." Human moods are variable 
 always ; like tides of the sea they rise and fall. Some- 
 times God seems nearby; so sure we are of His pres- 
 ence that we uncover and bow the head; again we 
 glimpse Him faintly as across some vast area or fail to 
 see Him at all. 
 
 Mark Twain has left an account of a camping experi- 
 ence in the Maine woods, when Horace Bushnell — 
 the distinguished Christian scholar — was a member of 
 the party. The humorist described the first night they 
 slept in God's great out-of-doors, and particularly the 
 prayer that Bushnell offered before they fell asleep. It 
 must have been a remarkable prayer for it made the 
 company of campers realize the presence of the Divine. 
 Mark Twain was deeply impressed, and commenting on 
 the incident years afterwards, said, "God seemed so 
 near that I fancied I could reach out anywhere that 
 night and touch Him." But when the famous author 
 was bereft of his devoted wife and a lovely daughter, 
 the darkness was thick about him and he sensed God 
 nowhere. Nor is there anything more pathetic than his 
 confessedly faint sense of the Divine presence as he 
 himself entered the valley of the shadow. The exalted 
 moods of life should be used to the fullest. They are 
 given us for a great purpose. By the mountain-top 
 experiences we should shape our lives and not by those 
 of the valley of doubt and gloom. Such elation of the 
 Spirit as is expressed in this Psalm is a tonic for the 
 soul ; and as cold water is to thirsty travelers, so these 
 
A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 71 
 
 great affirmations of God's every whereness soothe and 
 comfort the weary heart. But these are general com- 
 ments and it may be well to observe more particularly 
 the teachings of this notable Scripture and the lofty 
 conception of a God whose presence fills the world and 
 thrills the Psalmist's soul. It is interesting to look at 
 these verses one by one. 
 
 "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me." 
 Could anything be more thorough-going ? God knows 
 us completely. "He knoweth our frame, He remem- 
 bereth we are dust." Not only so, but He knows us 
 because He has "searched" us. "Searched" is a strong 
 word. It means to "dig deep." It has the idea of 
 minute investigation and of closest scrutiny. Here is 
 knowledge too wonderful for us. We think we know 
 each other, but we are mistaken. Intimate friends and 
 kinspeople know one another but partly. God knows 
 us altogether and wholly. The mind of the Psalmist 
 is flooded with this truth and he proceeds to expand 
 upon it in various ways. 
 
 "Thou knowest my downsittings and mine upris- 
 ings." These are interesting words. They are com- 
 parable with another phrase made familiar by much 
 Bible usage; namely, "Our going out and coming 
 in." It may be by the use of the terms "downsittings" 
 and "uprisings" the psalmist has reference to our 
 stumbling and falling, our blunders and failures, and 
 our consequent rising to begin all over again. God 
 knows our modes of life, whether of action or of re- 
 pose, our sleeping and our waking hours. Yea, what- 
 ever the day or the night may bring, our heavenly 
 
72 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Father knows. The God of Israel neither slumbers 
 nor sleeps. 
 
 "Thou compassest or winnowest my path . . . and 
 art acquainted with all my ways." This is a stronger 
 statement yet. It implies a still closer and more accu- 
 rate knowledge on God's part. The Psalmist avers 
 that God "winnowest" the way that we go. That is 
 an eloquent term. As the old time farmer used to 
 winnow the grain, thus separating the chaff from the 
 wheat, so to the Psalmist's mind God sifts out or win- 
 nows our paths; the way that we go is God encircled 
 if we only knew it. We may forget Him, He forgets 
 us never. He knoweth the way we take. 
 
 "For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O 
 Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." The Psalmist 
 could not have phrased the knowledge of God more 
 strongly than this. Even before we frame the word 
 He has knowledge of the thought that lies back of the 
 speech. Verily we every one have need to pray — 
 "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of 
 my heart find acceptance in Thy sight, O Lord, our 
 strength and our Redeemer." 
 
 "Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid 
 thine hand upon me." Ours is a besetting God. The 
 word "beset" has fallen into an unfavorable meaning. 
 We speak of "besetting sins" ; why not speak of a be- 
 setting God, a God who besets us before and behind 
 and lays His hand upon us. The idea is not that of a 
 heavy hand, but of a fatherly and compassionate pres- 
 sure. It is the hand of love and of mercy and of long 
 suffering. It is a precious thought; a beautiful figure; 
 a paternal picture. 
 
A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 73 
 
 From these exalted thoughts of God's presence and 
 knowledge the Psalmist proceeds still further. He 
 maintains that it is impossible to escape the Divine 
 Spirit; that no man can flee from the presence of God. 
 If he ascends into heaven or makes his bed in the 
 grave, lo, God is there. If he takes the wings of the 
 morning and flies to the uttermost parts of the earth, 
 God pursues him. Darkness and light are alike unto 
 Him. Everywhere and all the time he perceived God 
 pursues His children, and in manifold ways. Surely 
 this is a Psalm extraordinary. The spirit of God is 
 contemplated as boundless and represents man as at- 
 tempting to escape from God and failing The poets 
 have occasionally made this thought the theme of their 
 verses, and none more dramatically than Francis 
 Thompson in his strangely haunting poem entitled, 
 "The Hound of Heaven." In verses once read that 
 can never be forgotten, the poet describes the Divine 
 presence pursuing him persistently, through every vicis- 
 situde, and undefeated by his efforts to elude Him at 
 last triumphantly possesses the pursued who acknowl- 
 edges Him as his all in all. 
 
 I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; 
 
 I fled Him, down the arches of the years; 
 I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways 
 
 Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears 
 I hid from Him, and under running laughter. 
 
 Up vistaed hopes I sped; 
 
 And shot, precipitated, 
 Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears 
 From those strong feet that followed, followed after 
 
 But with unhurrying chase, 
 
 And unperturbed pace, 
 
74 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, 
 
 They beat — and a voice beat 
 
 More instant than the feet — 
 "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me" 
 
 Halts by me that footfall: 
 
 Is my gloom, after all, 
 Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly? 
 
 "Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, 
 I am He Whom thou seekest ! 
 Thou dravest love from these, who dravest Me." 
 
 The unique quality of the one hundred and thirty- 
 ninth Psalm is that it exalts a conception of God not 
 common throughout the Old Testament. The devout 
 Israelite for the most part worshiped God as some 
 awful and distant Deity. He thought of Jehovah more 
 often as a Judge and King than a Father. He bowed 
 before a Magistrate and a Monarch. He conceived of 
 worship in particular localities and was given to rev- 
 erence for Holy places. He thought of Jehovah as 
 the God of the Jewish people only. Thus the idea of 
 God in many portions of the Old Testament is a cir- 
 cumscribed and narrow conception. In the one hun- 
 dred and thirty-ninth Psalm, however, the author per- 
 ceives the presence of God as filling the universe, and 
 more, he sees man striving to flee from Him, seeking to 
 hide from Him and all in vain. God is inevitable, un- 
 avoidable, unescapable. In all verity he is a God that 
 will not let us go. 
 
 This is a profound conception of Deity — this thought 
 of the Divine Spirit searching out the hearts of men 
 and filling all the universe and pursuing man ever and 
 always. But to some it may be, and frequently is, 
 vague, intangible and impersonal. There is an aloof- 
 ness about the idea and a mysticism in it that does not 
 
A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 75 
 
 satisfy the hearts of all humanity. I think of the little 
 girl who had been put to bed and left alone in the dark 
 in a room upstairs. The other members of the family 
 were down stairs immediately under the child's bed- 
 room and were laughing and talking. By and by they 
 heard the child crying. The mother went to the room, 
 knelt by the bed, put her arms around the little girl 
 and asked her the trouble. "I was afraid of the dark," 
 the little girl sobbed. "The dark won't hurt you, dear, 
 God is here," comforted the mother. Then the crying 
 broke out afresh and between sobs the little girl an- 
 swered: "Yes — I know — God's here — but — I — want 
 — someone — with — a — face." Pathetic words and yet 
 ever so natural. Yes, we want someone with a face, 
 with eyes to see and ears to hear, with voice to speak, 
 with ministering hands, with beating heart — for such 
 a companion and comforter does humanity still cry 
 and God has heard and answered that cry. 
 
 Long, long ago in an upper room in Jerusalem a 
 very strong and radiant personality — a companion, 
 friend and teacher announced to the group who had 
 been with Him for nearly three years that He was 
 going away; that He was obliged to leave them. He 
 spoke to them of a home where there were many man- 
 sions; informed them that He was going to prepare 
 a place for them, and assured them that He would come 
 again. He also said that He was the way, the truth, 
 and the light, and that no man could come unto the 
 Father but by Him. The little company were sad and 
 filled with a nameless dread of approaching disaster. 
 One of that group named Philip asked the great com- 
 panion a question : "Lord, show us the Father and it 
 sufficeth us." Tell us about God, explain Him to us. 
 
76 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 He seems so far away. We cannot see Him or hear 
 Him, or know Him, but we want to know Him. Show 
 us the Father and it will satisfy us, as nothing else 
 can satisfy us." 
 
 The world-cry of Philip was answered by Jesus, and 
 surpassingly great is the answer : "Have I been so long 
 time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? 
 He that has seen Me has seen the Father." Yes, this is 
 the answer : "God having spoken at sundry times and 
 divers manners hath in these latter days spoken unto 
 us by His Son." It is well to range the one hundred 
 and thirty-ninth Psalm alongside the fourteenth chap- 
 ter of John. The Psalmist in a measure anticipates the 
 revelation of God in Christ. The mystery of the In- 
 carnation is the mystery of God seeking His children, 
 pursuing them constantly and persistently with His 
 everlasting love. Behold the heavenly Father seeking 
 His children in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. 
 This exalted teaching of the Psalmist is illustrated and 
 amplified in a most countless way in the teaching of the 
 Christ. Jesus taught that the very hairs of our heads 
 are numbered; that not a sparrow falls without God's 
 knowledge. Such teaching is akin to that of this Psalm, 
 only fuller and more intimate. 
 
 His parables of the shepherd seeking his sheep; the 
 woman searching for the coin ; of forgiving one's ene- 
 mies seventy times seven; of going the second mile, — 
 all these figures, incidents, ideals, are but outcroppings 
 of this idea of God as seeking, pursuing, following His 
 creatures, never abandoning them, but always and ever 
 in the pursuit Divine. 
 
A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 77 
 
 Jesus Himself was the incarnation of the Divine 
 Pursuer. He was the "sent one." He explained His 
 mission as a coming to seek and to save the lost. The 
 church — His body — is a medium of the spirit seeking 
 to win men for the new life as heirs of Jesus Christ, 
 and members of the family of God. Perhaps the lof- 
 tiest explanation given by any New Testament writer 
 of the purpose of God in Jesus is that of Paul when he 
 says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to 
 Himself." 
 
 In the light of this Psalm and the trend of Biblical 
 teaching, much in our theology needs revision. We 
 talk and pray and sing as though God were reluctant 
 to bless us; as if He were so busily engaged else- 
 where in His boundless universe as to necessitate our 
 entreaty and supplication to make Him aware of our 
 need and distress. We forget, if, indeed, it has oc- 
 curred to us, that we are the objects of His pursuit, 
 His love, His wisdom, His knowledge. We are seek- 
 ing to rHode Him, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes 
 willfully. What means this restlessness, this wistful 
 yearning of the multitude for pleasure, for recreation, 
 for change ? What is the reason for this mad scramble 
 for possession, position and fame? Is it not because 
 great hosts of men and women are seeking to escape 
 Almighty God; fearing to surrender to the Divine 
 Will lest some darling sin must be abandoned; skepti- 
 cal that spiritual riches are comparable with material 
 wealth ? O ! the wonder of the God who will not let us 
 go, the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to 
 Himself. We forget Him; we abandon ourselves to a 
 way of life that is Godless, but He never forgets, never 
 
78 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 abandons, never ceases to pursue us. And God pur- 
 sues us in ways that are diverse and totally unlike. He 
 speaks to us by the still small voice of conscience, and 
 if we refuse to listen he speaks to us in the thunder of 
 some event in our lives that shakes us to thefoundation. 
 The Divine Spirit reaches us sometimes through the 
 counsel and faith of the aged and the afflicted; some- 
 times by the hand of a little child ; sometimes the Spirit 
 pursues us by the medium of a dear friend or of a 
 beloved kinsman; possibly through the ministry of an 
 entire stranger. Yes, God seeks us and follows after 
 us, using a hundred different tokens; sometimes He 
 uses the seasons, the loveliness of spring, the mellow 
 splendor of summer, the glory of mid-autumn, the 
 wonder of wintertime, the stars by night and the 
 radiant sun by day; through roses, hollyhocks and 
 lilies; through books, pictures, music — through and by 
 all these agencies, and still on and on that love that 
 will not let us go follows us, refuses to be baffled, 
 claims us unceasingly. 
 
 When we think of God in this light, which is the 
 light all aglow on the mountain peaks of Old Testa- 
 ment teaching, and the great Light in Jesus Christ, we 
 are humbled and made to tremble, not with fear but 
 with the deepest joy. For this is the greatest love of 
 earth and heaven — the Love that will not, can not, let 
 us go. 
 
 That Voice is round me like a bursting sea : 
 
 And is thy earth so marred, 
 
 Shattered in shard on shard? 
 
 Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me. 
 
 Rise, clasp my hand, and come! 
 
VI 
 
 THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 
 
 How God Schools His Prophets and Provides 
 Their Successors 
 
// Kings 2:13-14-15. 
 
 And he took up also the mantle of Elijah 
 that fell from him, and went back, and stood 
 by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the 
 mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote 
 the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the 
 God of Elijah? And when he also had smit- 
 ten the waters, they were divided hither and 
 thither ; and Elisha went over. And when the 
 sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over 
 against him saw him, they said, the spirit of 
 Elijah doth rest on Elisha. 
 
VI 
 
 THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 
 
 The second chapter of II Kings is pervaded with 
 what Sir Robertson Nicoll calls "The sweet and awful 
 sadness of the valley of the shadow." Elijah, the re- 
 nowned Prophet of Israel, was nearing the end of his 
 life. Elisha, a younger man, and his disciple, was 
 aAvare that the time of separation was at hand. As 
 the hour approached for his home going, Elijah made 
 no secret of his preference to be left alone. He first 
 suggested to Elisha that he tarry at Gilgal, then at 
 Bethel, and again at Jericho. But in each instance 
 his companion declared — "As the Lord liveth and as 
 thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." At Jericho a 
 company of young men known as "The sons of the pro- 
 phets," anxiously awaited the coming of Elijah, for 
 they too knew a crisis was impending. They would 
 have liked to accompany him, but the privilege granted 
 to Elisha was not theirs. Fifty of their number fol- 
 lowed the two prophets as far as they might and then 
 sorrowfully stood and watched them until they were 
 lost from view. 
 
 Master and pupil crossed the Jordan as by dry land, 
 and when they had passed over, Elijah said to his 
 companion, "Ask what I shall do for thee before I am 
 taken from thee." That was a great question, and 
 81 
 
82 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 right greatly the younger man answered, "I pray thee 
 let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." There 
 was humility in that request. Elisha, fronting so great 
 a crisis, felt himself unequal to continue the work of 
 Elijah, except he possessed a double equipment of his 
 spiritual power. The old prophet replied, "Thou hast 
 asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when 
 I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee." And 
 lo ! while the two men were conversing, there appeared 
 a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which parted them 
 asunder, and Elijah was taken up into heaven by a 
 whirlwind. 
 
 Beholding the spectacle, and deeply impressed there- 
 by, Elisha cried, "My father, my father, the chariots 
 of Israel and the horsemen thereof." A strange and 
 interesting exclamation is this by which it may be 
 supposed that Elisha believed Elijah to be as great a 
 defense to the Israelitish Nation as an army ready 
 for battle, and such he was. 
 
 How long Elisha stood gazing into the sky attempt- 
 ing to catch a further glimpse of his great companion 
 and teacher, we do not know. The Scripture solemnly 
 says, "He saw him no more." Alas! the hour cometh 
 to us all, when those upon whom we lean, our teach- 
 ers and our mainstays, must be taken, leaving us to 
 get our bearings as best we can, and carry on the un- 
 finished task. Elisha, after a custom of his day, and 
 in token of his grief, rent his garment into two pieces. 
 Then observing the mantle of Elijah lying on the 
 ground nearby, he took it up, and lo, when he smote 
 the water of the Jordan with the mantle of Jehovah, 
 
THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 83 
 
 they divided hither and thither, even as they had done 
 for Elijah. 
 
 god's law of succession is demonstrated in 
 this dramatic old testament incident 
 
 God calls one worker from his post of duty only 
 to summon another to take his place. "The King is 
 dead; long live the King," is more than an ancient 
 custom, it is a token of the divine law of succession. 
 When a particularly useful person dies or is called from 
 one field of activity to another, we are filled with a great 
 fear lest the work not only suffer but cease altogether. 
 We forget that no individual is wholly indispensable 
 and that however able he was, the day will dawn when 
 he must give place to another. The world goes for- 
 ward after the fashion of a gigantic relay race. 
 "Others have labored and ye have entered into their 
 labors," is a truth which admits of wide application. 
 
 "Pis weary watching day by day, 
 And yet the tide heaves onward; 
 We build like corals grave on grave 
 But pave a path that's sunward. 
 
 This process is not only inevitable, it is also wise 
 and beneficent. Emerson's noble words in his "Com- 
 pensation" are to the point. 
 
 "We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let 
 our angels go. We do not see that they only go out 
 that archangels may come in. We are idolaters of the 
 old. We do not believe in the riches of the soul, in its 
 proper eternity and omnipresence. We do not believe 
 there is any force in today to rival or recreate that 
 
84 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 beautiful yesterday. We linger in the ruins of the 
 old tent, where once we had bread and shelter and 
 organs, nor believe that the spirit can feed, cover, and 
 nerve us again. We cannot again find aught so dear, 
 so sweet, so graceful. But we sit and weep in vain. 
 The voice of the Almighty saith, 'Up and onward 
 for evermore!' We cannot stay amid the ruins. 
 Neither will we rely on the new; and so we walk ever 
 with reverted eyes, like those monsters who look back- 
 wards." 
 
 The infinite variety of personality gives color and 
 substance to history ; supplies vine and rock to society. 
 One Grand Canyon is enough for a Continent; one 
 Elijah for a generation ; one Jesus Christ for all times. 
 But thousands of ravines and valleys compose the 
 earth; millions of ruggedly honest men supply the salt 
 of society, and a host who possess the Lord Christ's 
 heart furnish light for the world. 
 
 That God has ready always a great leader when 
 the fullness of time has come, is a familiar saying and 
 true. Stephen, the young Christian martyr,., was cut 
 off in his glorious prime, but there stood by witnessing 
 his death, and profoundly influenced by it, a Saul of 
 Tarsus who would take the wondrous story to the 
 uttermost parts of the earth. Dr. Livingstone died 
 in the heart of Africa; died on his knees in prayer, 
 prematurely old and broken, his labors apparently 
 ended, but when the story of his heroic career was 
 given to the world, thousands were moved to follow 
 in his steps. When Major McKinley, the gentle and 
 urbane, died by the hand of an assassin, and was suc- 
 ceeded by a man scarcely past middle life and of a 
 
THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 85 
 
 bold impetuous spirit, the Nation almost held its breath 
 for apprehension. And lo ! Colonel Roosevelt brought 
 to the presidency the very qualities that were most 
 needed for that hour, and once again the law of suc- 
 cession was justified by its work. 
 
 It is a common heresy that we speak and act as 
 though God was once active in the affairs of men, but 
 had withdrawn His spirit from the world, leaving us 
 to blunder along as best we can, dependent solely upon 
 human ingenuity and wisdom. That was a wise word 
 spoken by Garfield from the balcony of a New York 
 hotel to the vast throng that filled the street, and 
 seemed utterly dazed by the news of Lincoln's death. 
 Quoting first from the ninety-seventh Psalm, that man 
 of sturdy faith said : "God reigns and the Government 
 at Washington still lives." The people were in danger 
 of forgetting that the God of Lincoln was still active 
 and sovereign over all. The history of religious con- 
 troversy centers around human leadership and the spirit 
 of partyism. In the Corinthian Church partyism had 
 its birth through the glorying in men, rather than in 
 God. The apostle rebuked the tendency sharply. 
 "Wherefore let no one glory in men," he said, "For 
 all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or 
 Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present 
 or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, 
 and Christ is God's." How different the history of 
 Christianity would be written if this advice had always 
 been followed. God has not exhausted Himself in 
 His revelation of truth to any man, or to all men. 
 Give each teacher his just dues, but do not set Elisha 
 over against Elijah; Mary against Martha; Peter 
 
86 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 against Paul; Calvin against Wesley; General Booth 
 against Bishop Brooks. Accept every teacher for what 
 truth he has to offer and know that God will raise up 
 other teachers and thereby cause increasing light to 
 flood the great issues of life and death. 
 
 god's method of succession is seen in this old 
 testament episode 
 
 God uses prepared men to continue the work laid 
 down by their predecessors. Elijah's mantle did not 
 accidentally fall upon Elisha. The younger man had 
 been schooled under the older, and was the beneficiary 
 of his companionship and counsel. Elijah called 
 Elisha from the field where the young man was plow- 
 ing. He cast his mantle upon him at that time as a 
 symbol of his succession, and the young plowman from 
 that day became Elijah's companion. It was after this 
 calling of Elisha that some of the deepest experiences 
 of Elijah's career took place. The wrong done Naboth 
 by King Ahab, and the prophet's fiery denunciation of 
 the King occurred after his choice of Elisha. During 
 those full and eventful days we have no record of 
 Elisha, but we rightfully assume that for much of the 
 time he was with the great prophet and learning of him. 
 In one place the Scriptures refer to Elisha as "The son 
 of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." 
 Yes, he was a servant of Elijah, but more than a serv- 
 ant. Gehazi was a servant of Elisha, but never more 
 than a servant. Propinquity to a great man cannot of 
 itself make a prophet, but given the essential quality 
 of mind and affections, and propinquity may be fruitful 
 exceedingly. 
 
THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 87 
 
 It is important that we observe the human factor in 
 the Divine law of succession, and the responsibility 
 thereof. One way that God raises up successors to 
 great leaders is through the training of successors by 
 the leaders themselves. Moses had his Joshua; Elijah 
 his Elisha; Jesus His twelve apostles; St. Paul his 
 Timothy; D. L. Moody his Henry Drummond; Fran- 
 cis E. Clark his Daniel Poling. Who have we in 
 training to receive the standard from our trembling 
 hands and carry it on in a steadier grasp? Here is a 
 responsibility we are slow to acknowledge in matters 
 spiritual. In business this responsibility is widely rec- 
 ognized and freely accepted. Most fathers recognize 
 it and are not unfaithful to their duty. They look for- 
 ward to the day when their sons shall succeed them in 
 business or profession, and to prepare them, for this is 
 a thing of pride and joy. Most mothers are ambitious 
 that their daughters shall succeed them in social and 
 domestic life, and spare no pains to train them to be- 
 come ideal hostesses. It is scarcely necessary to ad- 
 vise parents to train their children for society and busi- 
 ness; they will see to that. But, alas! how few are 
 concerned with preparing the oncoming generation for 
 Spiritual service. And yet there can be no adequately 
 trained Elishas except there be Elijahs willing to choose 
 and discipline their disciples. 
 
 The greatest popular pastime in America is baseball. 
 Prodigious sums of money are represented in this 
 amusement which annually draws a patronage running 
 into many millions. In order that worthy successors 
 may be found for the famous players who command 
 fabulous sums for their services, a nation-wide search 
 
88 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 is carried on annually under carefully trained scouts. 
 No village is considered too small, or community too 
 remote for these men to visit, if there is possible ma- 
 terial for a great catcher, pitcher, fielder or baseman. 
 
 What of the Church and succession in its leaderships 
 for the ministry, the mission field, the Christian col- 
 lege, the local congregation? The solemn truth is that 
 the paucity of available material is pathetic and wholly 
 alarming. The average nowadays Christian home is 
 not only indifferent to this need but sometimes even 
 hostile to son or daughter preparing for such a career. 
 Time was when the fondest hope of a God-fearing 
 parent was to give a son to the ministry of the Word. 
 The present generation, however, is receiving small 
 encouragement toward any definite religious life. The 
 prophet in religion has given way to the promoter, and 
 the lure of the material has blinded the eyes of young 
 and old to spiritual gifts. 
 
 Men and women who love the Church of the living 
 God — whom have you in training to receive your 
 mantle ? Honored parents of Christian ideals — are you 
 raising up sons and daughters who can be counted upon 
 to serve and sacrifice for the Kingdom of Heaven? 
 Teachers, and workers in the Sunday school, — have you 
 inspired among your pupils those who will continue 
 your labors when you are called higher ? Office bearers, 
 — are you consciously and constructively shaping the 
 lives of the young people to follow your footsteps, to 
 assume responsibility, and accept posts of duty? Min- 
 ister of the Word, — do you know definitely that among 
 the young men and women of your congregation there 
 are those who are preparing for service in home or for- 
 
THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 
 
 89 
 
 eign field as ambassadors of Jesus Christ? Upon the 
 kind of an answer present-day leaders make to these 
 questions impend issues of immeasurable worth. The 
 mantle of Elijah awaits an Elisha, Elijah-trained. 
 
 god's law of succession is a distinct challenge 
 to the individual 
 
 Elijah's mantle did not fall directly on the shoulders 
 of Elisha, it fluttered to the ground a little distance 
 apart. It was necessary for him to take the mantle 
 up, by that token he showed the mettle of his manhood. 
 The mantle of leadership does not drop mysteriously 
 from the sky and gracefully entwine itself about the 
 shoulders of the chosen one. Men who scheme to step 
 into other men's shoes are doomed to wear their own, 
 however bad their state of repair. Leaders are usually 
 called to new opportunities of leadership when they 
 are so busily preoccupied with their work that they have 
 no time to be casting covetous glances toward some 
 other position. Elijah chose Elisha, that is half the 
 successorship ; Elisha served a faithful apprenticeship, 
 and when his master's mantle fell to earth he took it 
 up — that is the other half. 
 
 Society has yet to know a surplus of real leaders, 
 trained workers are always at a premium. It may not 
 be always true that the world will beat a path through 
 the woods to the home of the man who writes a better 
 book, makes a better mouse trap, or preaches a better 
 sermon than his neighbor, but ninety-eight times out 
 of a hundred it is true. Mediocrity needs to be safe- 
 guarded against discouragement, but the time will 
 never be when perseverance and diligence do not com- 
 
90 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 mand a reward. However far society may go in mass- 
 movements, and it will likely go a long way, individual 
 initiative cannot be impaired without serious loss and 
 possible disaster. 
 
 To wear the mantle of Elijah is not to be a mere 
 imitator. Elisha was most unlike Elijah. The older 
 prophet loved the wilderness and solitary places, the 
 younger, the city and the camps of Israel's armies. The 
 Tishbite was stern and of fiery intensity; the son of 
 Shaphat was milder, gentler, yet withal firm and un- 
 compromising with evil. Imitators there are of every 
 great leader, men who simulate voice, gesture, and 
 even foibles, but the true successor possesses the spirit 
 and preserves his own individuality. 
 
 If we wish the mantle of Elijah we shall have to 
 make ourselves worthy of it. In order to do as much 
 as our fathers we shall have to do more. To be as good 
 as our fathers we shall have to be better. We stand 
 upon their shoulders, we are the beneficiaries of their 
 labor and love. We may not be able to match their 
 strong intellects or their rugged characters inured by 
 hardship and exposure, but we ought to be able to sur- 
 pass them in the use of the wider knowledge and the 
 accumulated heritage that is ours. Our temptation is 
 to tarry at the place where they laid down the burden. 
 Our tendency is to camp around the spot and to estab- 
 lish the banner where they battled. But we cannot be 
 true to their memory unless we go forward and plant 
 that banner on higher ground. 
 
 Elijah's mantle was the symbol of the choice of 
 Elisha to continue the prophet's ministry. In the upper 
 room in Jerusalem Jesus breathed upon His disciples, 
 
THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 
 
 91 
 
 symbolic of His Spirit that was soon to come upon 
 them. He was parted from that chosen group while in 
 the very act of blessing them. In that parting He con- 
 ferred upon them no insignia of authority that the 
 eye could see. There fell from Him no visible mantle, 
 but they possessed His promise and that was enough 
 until fulfillment came. The disciples tarried in prayer 
 and expectancy, and upon them thus gathered, His 
 Spirit came in fullness and power. Jesus was not an 
 exception to God's law of succession; He left no suc- 
 cessor, but He left many successors. "In going," says 
 Bishop Brent, "Christ came in a fullness which was 
 wanting before He went, the fullness of added availa- 
 bility, a higher degree of presence." 
 
 Elisha prayed for a double portion of Elijah's spirit, 
 and thereby received his mantle. The mantle without 
 the spirit was a cast-off garment, a mere piece of cloth, 
 but as a symbol of the spirit it was an eloquent reminder 
 of the great prophet who wore it becomingly and with 
 power. Jesus, in granting His Spirit gave more than 
 the disciples had dared to ask, and thus He gives us 
 of Himself today — superabundantly — if we will but 
 receive Him. . 
 
 So stir me Lord that I may 
 Give myself so back to Thee 
 That Thou mayest give 
 Thyself again through me. 
 
VII 
 
 HABAKKUK'S HYMN 
 
 A Meditation on the Winged Words of an Old 
 Testament Saint 
 
Habakkuk 3:17-19. 
 
 For though the fig tree shall not flourish, 
 
 Neither shall fruit be in the vines; 
 
 The labor of the olive shall fail, 
 
 And the fields shall yield no food; 
 
 The flock shall be cut off from the fold, 
 
 And there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
 
 Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, 
 
 I will joy in the God of my salvation. 
 
 Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; 
 
 And He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, 
 
 And will make me to walk upon my high places. 
 
VII 
 
 HABAKKUK'S HYMN 
 
 This noble Scripture is a rich discovery in an unex- 
 pected place. For that matter, life is full of surprises. 
 How often we come unexpectedly upon new discoveries. 
 We take up a book more or less familiar; we think 
 we know it by heart ; and lo ! among its score of chap- 
 ters and thousands of words we find in some obscure 
 paragraph a passage of extraordinary worth. We set 
 out to journey over a familiar road ; we think we know 
 its every landmark, and then, to our surprise, we come 
 suddenly upon a landscape of great beauty. We enjoy 
 the association of a dear friend, of such long standing 
 that we believe we know him thoroughly, only to dis- 
 cover some day as by a flash of lightning a new trait, 
 a surprising courage, or some talent we never dreamed 
 of his possessing. Thus it is with this Book of books ; 
 we think we know it fairly well, only to discover some- 
 times in the most casual way, new riches, new beauties, 
 new wisdom. 
 
 Comparatively few readers of the Bible are familiar 
 with the book of Habakkuk. An exceeding great num- 
 ber would find it difficult to turn to it promptly. We 
 know nothing of Habakkuk save what may be inferred 
 from this book that bears his name. He probably 
 flourished in the reign of Jehoiakim, that evil King 
 95 
 
96 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 who deliberately cut to pieces certain portions of the 
 Scriptures that were disagreeable to him. Habakkuk 
 is known as one of the minor prophets, yet here is an 
 utterance worthy of a Jeremiah, an Isaiah or an Ezekiel. 
 Thank God minor prophets may sometimes be majors 
 in the army of the Lord ! 
 
 While it is true that Habakkuk is unknown to most 
 readers of the Scriptures, his brief but valuable book 
 has rewarded many diligent students of the Word. 
 
 Daniel Webster, in a conversation with some friends, 
 was asked his preference as to portions of the Bible. 
 In reply he said, "The masterpiece of the New Testa- 
 ment, of course, is the Sermon on the Mount. As to 
 the Old Testament writings, my favorite book is that 
 of Habakkuk ; and my favorite verses in chapter three 
 — seventeen and eighteen : 'For though the fig tree shall 
 not flourish, neither shall fruit be in the vine ; the labor 
 of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no food ; 
 the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall 
 be no herd in the stall; yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, 
 I will joy in the God of my salvation.' This," con- 
 tinued Webster, "I regard as one of the sublime pas- 
 sages of literature; and often have I wondered that 
 some artist equal to the task has not selected the 
 prophet and the scene of his desolation as the subject 
 of a painting." 
 
 The fact that this unusually fine passage is in an 
 obscure book of the Bible suggests that other undis- 
 covered jewels are scattered throughout the Scriptures. 
 Every one who searches the Scriptures for worthy 
 goals may expect to be amply rewarded. One would 
 hesitate to say that we are too familiar with the four- 
 
HABAKKUK'S HYMN 
 
 97 
 
 teenth of John, the twenty-third Psalm, the thirteenth 
 of First Corinthians, or the eighth of Romans; but it 
 is lamentably true that we are unfamiliar with many 
 portions of the Scriptures wrongly deemed unimportant 
 and commonplace. 
 
 i 
 
 These winged words of Habakkuk, in which he vows 
 that whether or not his fields prosper or his flocks in- 
 crease, he will rejoice in Jehovah, approach a defini- 
 tion of the nature of real religion. Religion is a diffi- 
 cult term to define, and many misleading definitions 
 have been written. In Acts, the seventeenth chapter, 
 Paul in his speech in Athens tells his hearers that they 
 are very religious, but the word literally means "super- 
 stitious" or "demon-fearing." In James, the first chap- 
 ter and twenty-seventh verse, "pure religion and unde- 
 filed before our God and Father" is described as "vis- 
 iting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and 
 keeping oneself unspotted from the world." This is- 
 not a definition of religion, but a description of a prac- 
 tical expression of the same, and a good one, too. In 
 attempting to define religion, we usually fall into the 
 error of selecting an aspect of religion and defining 
 the whole by a part. 
 
 There is, for example, a ceremonial religion — a view 
 of God that expresses itself in punctilious observance 
 of form. The Pharisees stressed this kind of reli- 
 gion ; they made the form an end instead of a means. 
 Forms have their places in religion and ceremonies 
 their uses. We may properly think of forms and cere- 
 monies as the A-B-C of religion. One should use them 
 
98 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 as he uses the alphabet; that is, having learned the 
 ■alphabet, he passes on to the creation of sentences, 
 paragraphs, and the formation of a vocabulary. But 
 there are those who use form and ceremony as goals, 
 instead of vehicles to the goal. 
 
 There is also a propositional or creedal religion, an 
 intellectual assent to a truth or doctrine. Now, correct 
 thinking is good, yes, more, it is necessary, but it is 
 not of itself sufficient. The Scriptures tell us that 
 "even the demons believe and tremble." Devils are al- 
 ways orthodox. The assent of the mind to a doctrine, 
 even a Christian doctrine, may or may not be really 
 religious. Intellectual acceptance of Christian doctrine 
 is the beginning of a saving faith in God through 
 Jesus Christ, but belief itself is not trust save as the 
 bud is the flower. 
 
 Still again, there is a devotional religion. A wor- 
 shipful service makes a direct appeal to the nature of 
 some persons whose lives are not really righteous, but 
 who are charmed by thet esthetic effect of prayer or 
 preaching, and the mystery and spiritual romance that 
 haloes the house of God. The devotional spirit enters 
 largely into real religion, but it is not the whole of 
 religion. 
 
 There is likewise a practical or humanitarian religion 
 which consists in deeds of mercy — a religion of min- 
 istry to body and mind ; a religion that stresses the idea 
 of burden bearing and succoring the unfortunate. It 
 may ignore or profess to ignore the institutional side 
 of religion and even repudiate the creedal and the 
 formal. Such a practical and necessary serving of 
 humanity is a large part of religion, but it is not all. 
 
HABAKKUK'S HYMN 
 
 99 
 
 Habakkuk was not a stranger to ceremonial religion. 
 As a devout Jew the various rites of purification, the 
 numerous sacrifices and offerings, the tithing even of 
 the smallest herbs — all these were probably observed 
 by him. Undoubtedly he had given intellectual assent 
 to the truths that are embodied in the decalogue. We 
 may well believe that he found pleasure in the stately 
 temple service, the majestic order of worship, the an- 
 tiphonal choirs — that these found and fed the soul of 
 the prophet. We know that his religion was practical 
 and that it was social as well as individualistic. Was 
 it not this same brave soul who wrote, "Woe to him 
 that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set 
 his nest on high that he may be delivered from the 
 hand of evil ! Woe to him that buildeth a town with 
 blood and establish a city by iniquity." 
 
 ii 
 
 Habukkuk avers in this personal confession of faith 
 that his trust in God does not depend upon the success 
 of his crops, the vintage of his grapes, nor his jars of 
 olives, his flocks and his herds. He may lose a part or 
 all but that will make no difference to his devotion to 
 God. However distressing and hard his experience, he 
 means that his faith shall triumph. He exclaims ex- 
 ultantly: "I will joy in the God of my salvation." He 
 goes still further although it would seem that he has 
 gone as far as possible in his avowals of loyalty and 
 trust. He makes use in the closing verse of one of the 
 most beautiful and poetic of allusions to be found in 
 the Scriptures. He climaxes his great affirmation, that 
 he will trust God whate'er befall him, with these pic- 
 
100 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 torial words: "God maketh my feet like hind's feet 
 and will make me to walk on my high places." 
 
 Habakkuk must have been familiar with the moun- 
 tain stag or gazelle, one of the most nimble, graceful, 
 and fleetest of creatures. The hinds make their homes 
 in the upper regions of the mountains where they are 
 undisturbed by hunter's dog or his master. From these 
 secure retreats they venture down the mountain-side 
 to feed on the succulent roots and herbage. When dis- 
 turbed in their grazing by an enemy they disappear as 
 if by magic, their feet fairly twinkling in flashes of 
 speed; and when next one sees them they are far up 
 the mountain safe from harm in the high places with 
 impassable barriers between them and their foe. Habak- 
 kuk means to say that when the world seems against 
 him and everything has gone wrong, his spirit bounds 
 as the hind and is carried up into the high places where 
 the armies of Jehovah are around and about him, pro- 
 tecting him. There is an echo of the same thought in 
 Isaiah. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength, they shall mount up with the wings of 
 eagles, they shall run and be not weary, they shall walk 
 and faint not." It is an exultant faith when one is able 
 so to live. It is a triumphant trust. It is real religion 
 where God is loved for His own sake and not because 
 of any material reward. 
 
 in 
 
 One sees in this seraphic passage of Scripture a 
 spiritual declaration of independence. The soul is no 
 longer in bondage to the letter of the law, the ceremony 
 or the creed. The world, the flesh and the devil have 
 
HABAKKUK'S HYMN 101 
 
 lost their power to enthrall. God is served for His 
 own sake. Here is a religion with all of self washed 
 out; a spiritual yet practical faith needs no defense, 
 and is impervious to criticism. Here is a confidence 
 in thq Divine like that of the afflicted patriarch who 
 cried amid his suffering — "Though he slay me yet will 
 I trust him." Here is a real religion — no artifice, no 
 hypocrisy, no mistaken emphasis or reversing of the 
 Divine order. Here is the top round of the ladder of 
 faith. This is the kind of religion that Paul had in 
 mind when he wrote, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith- 
 fulness, meekness, self-control. Against such there is 
 no law." Here is a sublime confidence in God such 
 as Jesus taught in the sermon on the Mount. "If God 
 doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, 
 and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much 
 more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" 
 
 We praise God for Habakkuk, that brave soul of the 
 long ago. We know so little about him ; we know less 
 of him than the world knows of Shakespeare, and that 
 is precious little. We do not know how this prophet 
 looked ; the color of his eyes, the profile of his face, the 
 tone of his voice. Yet, notwithstanding, we can almost 
 feel the throbbing of his heart as we read his great 
 hymn of faith. Across the centuries he speaks to us 
 and bids us to be brave ; he calls upon us to love God for 
 His own sake and to serve Him without fear, regard- 
 less of the storms that beat upon us and the doubts and 
 difficulties that pursue us. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE LADDER OF PRAYER 
 An Elementary Lesson in the Greatest of Schools 
 
Genesis 28:12. 
 
 And he dreamed; and, behold, a ladder set 
 up on the earth, and the top of it reached to 
 heaven ; and, behold, the angels of God ascend- 
 ing and descending on it. 
 
 Luke 11 :i. 
 
 And it came to pass, as He was praying in a 
 certain place, that when He ceased, one of His 
 disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to 
 pray, even as John also taught his disciples. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE LADDER OF PRAYER 
 
 "The history of prayer is the history of religion," 
 declares Sabatier. In truth, the history of prayer is 
 the history of the human race. However benighted or 
 barbarous, man has always prayed though his prayers 
 have often been crude and mechanical. Between that 
 far-away time when Jacob saw in the vision of the 
 night a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and the 
 days when Jesus of Nazareth prayed as never man 
 prayed before or since, the idea of prayer has under- 
 gone decided change and experienced marked growth. 
 The conception of prayer is not the same in both the 
 Old and the New Testament, nor is this surprising 
 since the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures is 
 progressive, reaching its apex in the life and ministry 
 of Jesus Christ. Just how largely the idea of prayer 
 is developed in the Scriptures may be seen by a com- 
 parison of the teachings and examples of prayer in 
 the Old Testament with that of the New. In the for- 
 mer, prayer is for the most part to a localized God, 
 due to the belief that some places were holier than 
 others; in the latter prayer is to an omnipresent God 
 who hears the cry of His children without regard to 
 place or time. In the Old Testament the prayers of the 
 people are nationalistic and encrusted with the proud 
 105 
 
106 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 belief that Jehovah is the God of the Jew only. In 
 the New, the teaching is of a universal Father, a God 
 who is not a respecter of persons, race or conditions. 
 In the Old Testament the approach to God is largely — 
 though not altogether — through priestly mediation. In 
 the New it is taught that the lowliest of earth can 
 go to the heavenly Father without any mediator other 
 than the great High Priest who can be touched with 
 the feeling of our infirmity. Finally, the prayer for 
 vengeance which is found occasionally in the Old 
 Testament gives place in the New to prayer for one's 
 enemies. Samson's dying prayer as he twined his arms 
 about the pillars of the Philistinian palace and entreated 
 Jehovah to help him avenge his enemies, suffers when 
 compared with the prayer of dying Stephen for those 
 who stoned him — "Lord, lay not this sin to their 
 charge." 
 
 It is interesting to think of prayer as a ladder fash- 
 ioned after the similitude of Jacob's dream, a ladder 
 reaching from lowly earth to highest heaven, a mystic 
 means of communion between man and God, a lumi- 
 nous pathway of the spirit. Jacob created his ladder out 
 of his dreams and in like manner we build the ladder 
 of prayer as we grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. 
 
 Heaven is not reached at a single bound, 
 We build the ladder by which we rise 
 
 From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 
 And we mount to the summit round by round. 
 
 I 
 
 The first round in the ladder is "saying" a prayer. 
 This is the most elementary kind of praying in the 
 
THE LADDER OF PRAYER 
 
 107 
 
 school of Christ. It may be, and frequently is, purely 
 mechanical. It is the repetition of certain words or 
 phrases, but with the definite and dominate idea that 
 God is, that He hears and is able to help us. Children 
 "say prayer s — verses" which have been taught them by 
 parents or guardians to whom their upbringing is en- 
 trusted. And this custom is tender, beautiful and al- 
 together wholesome. Think of the unnumbered hosts 
 of children who every day repeat that simple, yet lovely 
 prayer of childhood. 
 
 Now I lay me down to sleep ; 
 I pray the Lord my soul to keep. 
 If I should die before I wake, 
 I pray the Lord my soul to take. 
 This I ask for Jesus' sake. 
 
 We expect children to say prayers, but grown up 
 people also say prayers. There are groups of devoted 
 Christians belonging to historic churches who never 
 pray without the use of formal prayer or ritual. 
 Whether the habitual use — in worship — of a form of 
 prayer becomes formal or lifeless depends upon the 
 one who prays. To repeat a prayer without any 
 thought as to the meaning of the words — but mechani- 
 cally — is not to pray but to say a prayer. When the 
 disciples of John asked Jesus to teach them to pray, 
 He gave them a model prayer which has been called, 
 for some reason not entirely clear, the "Lord's Prayer." 
 It may be questioned whether Jesus gave this prayer for 
 such a use as we moderns make of it. I think He gave 
 it to His disciples as a pattern by which they were to 
 fashion their own prayers; we use it as a form. There 
 can be no good reason for objection to its use as a form 
 
108 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 provided it is not used solely as such. "Saying a 
 prayer" is better than not praying at all. It is the first 
 lesson in the prayer primer. It is the lowest round on 
 the prayer ladder. 
 
 ii 
 
 The second round is praying a prayer. This is a 
 distinct advance over saying a prayer. It is the differ- 
 ence of putting a roll of music on a piano player and 
 manipulating the same, and the playing of the music 
 through the mastery of the keyboard. Here is where 
 the worshiper passes from mere repetition to conscious 
 communion with God. A formal prayer can be used 
 to the good of man and the glory of God. I believe in 
 extempore prayer and utilize it in public services con- 
 stantly; but there are times when I cannot frame suit- 
 able sentences of my own; times when the mind is 
 weary and the spirit lags; times when a noble liturgy 
 becomes a necessity and a blessing. 
 
 That awful night the Titanic went down amid the 
 wild terror of iceberg and frightful expanse of an un- 
 plumbed sea, a dozen men and women clung to a frail 
 raft and battled desperately for life. Only a few sur- 
 vived the terrible exposure. Colonel Gracie, a dis- 
 tinguished American, was one who lived to tell the 
 story. He has left the testimony that as he and his 
 fellow unfortunates clung to the raft; their bodies 
 immersed in the icy water; the cold stars over their 
 heads and the cries of dying in their ears ; they repeated 
 together, and over and over again the familiar words: 
 
 Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, 
 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is 
 heaven — 
 
THE LADDER OF PRAYER 109 
 
 And so on to the end and over and over again. Be 
 sure those shipwrecked men and women did not say 
 that prayer; they prayed as they repeated the precious 
 petitions ; they prayed as they thus communed with the 
 holy Father; prayed in intensity, in hope, in faith. 
 The age-old model prayer became that night a ladder 
 reaching from the cold waters of the Atlantic to heaven 
 and the Father's house of many mansions. 
 
 in 
 
 The third round in the ladder of prayer is praying 
 for self. Here one recognizes personal need and ex- 
 presses it in petition or supplication. The beginning 
 of prayer for self is usually almost wholly petition, 
 and self -centered at that. What we ask God for mir- 
 rors our inner life. Our petitions of yesterday do not 
 look well in the light of today, and they may possibly 
 shrivel more in the light of tomorrow. It is possible 
 to mark the transformation of character by the differ- 
 ence in the character and object of our prayers. The 
 Prodigal Son in the earlier stage of his career prayed, 
 "Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." 
 How different his accent after the "far country" ex- 
 perience, when broken and contrite he prayed : "Make 
 me as one of thy hired servants." As far as the east 
 is from the west, so far apart in spirit are the petitions 
 "give me" and "make me." Like the prodigal, we too 
 have prayed the "give me" prayers; "give me pleasure, 
 give me fame, give me prestige, give me money, give 
 me worldly success." From the selfish prayer "give 
 me," we must turn to the noble "make me" petition; 
 "make me true, make me strong to do the right ; make 
 
110 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 me willing to suffer for truth" ; thus shall we grow in 
 Godliness. 
 
 The prayer that Jacob offered as he set out on his 
 journey into the new country where he was to lay 
 the foundations of his material fortunes is selfish and 
 of a bargaining nature. He vowed a vow and said, 
 "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way 
 that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment 
 to put on — then shall the Lord be my God." Contrast 
 this petition with his prayer at the ford of the river 
 Jabbok many years later when danger threatened him 
 and retribution for the wrong that he had done Esau 
 seemed close at hand. That night alone under the 
 Syrian sky, alone with his conscience and his God, Ja- 
 cob prayed : "I am not worthy of the least of all the 
 mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed 
 unto thy servant." It is to be expected that our primary 
 lessons in the school of prayer will not be as mature and 
 free from flaw as those lessons that are learned in the 
 crucible of experience, pain and suffering. 
 
 The prayers of the Pharisee and the publican illus- 
 trate extremes and a notable contrast in praying for 
 self. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself and for 
 himself : "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men 
 are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this 
 publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all 
 that I possess." And the publican standing afar off 
 would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven, but 
 smote upon his breast, saying : "God be merciful to me 
 a sinner." We have the judgment of our Lord Him- 
 self, that the publican's prayer had the approval of 
 God. Alas, some of us never get beyond the selfish 
 
THE LADDER OF PRAYER 111 
 
 petition, the entreaty for personal preference. We are 
 more concerned with "mine" than "Thine." We are 
 submerged in what Dr. F. B. Meyers calls a sea of 
 "meism." 
 
 rv 
 
 The fourth round is praying for others. Here one's 
 prayer life assumes a nobler spirit and deepens and 
 widens like the channel of a river approaching the 
 waters of the open sea. Intercession with God for 
 others is Christlike and of the ministry mediatorial. 
 It is worthy of comment that in the Old Testament 
 times when the ideal of prayer was not so high as that 
 taught by Jesus, Samuel frankly acknowledged the 
 duty of praying for others in memorable words. Thus, 
 when he retired from judging of Israel and gave way 
 to Saul, the first King, he said : "Far be from me that 
 I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for 
 you." How many nowaday Christians regard it as a 
 sin not to pray for others — pathetically few, let us 
 confess. 
 
 It is difficult to overestimate the place and power 
 of intercessory prayer. Many a minister has been 
 steadied at a critical time and enheartened by a knowl- 
 edge that the prayers of the people were rising daily like 
 incense, for the blessing of God upon him and his 
 work. Many a son or daughter away from home, out 
 in the great world battling with strong temptations, 
 have been mightily refreshed by the thought that 
 mother's prayer never ceases to rise in behalf of the 
 absent boy or girl. I confess to a sense of wonder and 
 to a feeling of humility whenever requests reach me 
 
112 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 for definite personal prayer for others. Thus, over the 
 telephone one day an unfamiliar voice said : "I heard 
 your sermon yesterday ; please pray for me that I may 
 be victor in a fierce temptation that threatens me." I 
 open my mail and here is a letter from a little girl in a 
 hospital far in the southland stricken with a serious 
 malady, and asking me to pray for her. O, the marvel, 
 the mystery, and the power of intercessory prayer. 
 
 A famous American preacher relates this story. 
 There was a woman in his church, old, bent, poor, but 
 somehow strangely radiant beneath her triple burden. 
 The preacher often wondered at her brave ongoing. 
 One day she chanced to tell him. of this. Too slim 
 her purse to give, too bent her body to serve, she was 
 wont to clip the obituaries in the daily papers and then 
 for each of the stricken households — to pray! Did 
 God hear the prayer of this shut-in saint? As dis- 
 tinctly as a mother hears the faintest cry of her first 
 born. 
 
 v 
 
 The fifth round of the Prayer ladder is praying "in 
 the Spirit." This is the acme of prayer. Here the 
 spirit! of the heavenly Father and His children meet 
 and merge; this is the prayer of triumphant consecra- 
 tion, "Thy will be done." There may be no articulate 
 words, but the spirit of prayer permeates one's whole 
 being and it is as though the entire being were vocal. 
 The most spiritual prayers are often quite independent 
 of form or ceremony and do not necessarily require 
 speech. In the greatest experiences of life words are 
 feeble and inadequate; but love and sacrifice speak in 
 
THE LADDER OF PRAYER 113 
 
 the eloquent expression of the eye, the trembling of the 
 chin, the tear moist cheek; just so in the highest ex- 
 perience of prayer there is such harmony of soul, such 
 oneness of spirit with the Divine that speech could add 
 nothing to the glory and the consecration of the mo- 
 ment. 
 
 I recall an incident so intimate and tender that the 
 recollection is like the entering into some holy of holies. 
 The incident is one of several growing out of the 
 severing of pastoral ties of many years and the calling 
 as my successor, the young man who had served for a 
 year as my assistant. This young man and I had 
 enjoyed a year of unbroken fellowship. I had been at- 
 tracted to him upon first acquaintance, and I saw in 
 him certain gifts that I felt sure would fit him for the 
 educational directorship of the church. When it be- 
 came apparent that he would be chosen to succeed me 
 as minister of that old and conspicuous church, he was 
 quite overwhelmed with the thought and could scarcely 
 think his way through the possibilities of the promotion 
 with the responsibilities it entailed. In the midst of 
 those first hours of stress and uncertainty I went to his 
 study intending to confer with him there. He did 
 not hear me open the door. I saw him seated at his 
 desk with his arms stretched out across the table; his 
 face pressed against the polished surface was turned 
 toward me; his eyes were closed. I stood a moment 
 wondering if he were ill ; then like a flash I understood, 
 amid the anxiety and the elation of the sudden oppor- 
 tunity that had come to him he had turned in prayer 
 to Almighty God for light and leading. He had bowed 
 himself before the heavenly Father, and without any 
 
114 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 articulate speech was seeking to find the Divine will and 
 to merge his will into God's will. I turned and tip- 
 toed out of the room, but there remains with me to 
 this day the picture of that young minister falling 
 back upon the Everlasting Arms, and the unspoken pe- 
 tition for guidance and strength. Thus do we build 
 the ladder of prayer, beginning with "saying prayers" 
 and ending with praying in the Spirit. On such a lad- 
 der the angels of God ascend and descend — messen- 
 gers of His mercy and love. 
 
 In the abstract this prayer ladder may seem fanciful, 
 but behold it now concretely in the life of Jesus Christ. 
 It is unthinkable that Jesus ever said a prayer, but we 
 may well believe He repeated with unction and grace 
 some of those great prayer psalms which to this day 
 are redolent with praise. Jesus prayed for Himself, 
 but no selfish prayer ever found utterance with Him. 
 He prayed for Himself that He might accomplish the 
 work where unto He was sent. He prayed in the pres- 
 ence of strong temptation for the victory of the spirit 
 over the flesh. But He prayed mostly for others. He 
 prayed for His disciples. He prayed for them collec- 
 tively and by name. He prayed for Peter and His 
 prayer for that impetuous disciple was answered. He 
 prayed for little children and was indignant because 
 the disciples discouraged the mothers from bringing 
 their children to Him. His prayer recorded in the 
 seventeenth chapter of John is an intercessory prayer 
 in which He prayed for Himself, for the disciples 
 that were then with Him and for all who should be His 
 disciples. He prayed for the unity of believers that 
 they might be one, even as He and the Father are one. 
 
THE LADDER OF PRAYER 115 
 
 In Gethsemane He prayed the prayer of complete sub- 
 mission and resignation, "Father, if Thou be willing 
 remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will 
 but Thine be done." On the Cross He prayed for His 
 enemies, for those who had betrayed Him, for those 
 who nailed Him there, for all, "Father, forgive them 
 for they know not what they do." 
 
 Is it any wonder that the disciples asked Jesus to 
 teach them to pray? If He needed to pray, how much 
 more His disciples. To the School of Prayer as taught 
 by Jesus let us go in great numbers and for life and 
 forever. What boots it if our beginnings of prayer 
 are humble and feeble. If we persist we shall grow in 
 prayer as in stature, in years, in everything. Be- 
 ginning by "saying a prayer" we shall come at last 
 really to pray in the Spirit. 
 
 The builder who first bridged Niagara's gorge, 
 
 Before he swung his cable, shore to shore, 
 
 Sent out across the gulf his venturing kite 
 
 Bearing a slender cord for unseen hands 
 
 To grasp upon a further cliff and draw 
 
 A greater cord, and then a greater yet; 
 
 Till at last across the chasm swung 
 
 The cable — then the mighty bridge in air! 
 
 So we may send our little timid thought 
 Across the void, out to God's reaching hands 
 Send out our love and faith to thread the deep 
 Thought after thought until the little cord 
 Has greatened to a chain no chance can break, 
 And — we are anchored to the infinite. 
 
IX 
 
 THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 
 
 A Study in the Essential Truth which Underlies 
 Vagaries and Varieties of Spiritualistic 
 Experiments 
 
John 16:7. (Moffatt's Translation.) 
 
 Yet — I am telling you the truth — my going 
 is for your good. If I do not depart, the 
 Helper will not come to you; whereas if I go, 
 I will send him to you. 
 
 Hebrews 12:22, 23. 
 
 Ye are come ... to the spirits of just men 
 made perfect. 
 
IX 
 
 THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 
 
 There is good reason to believe that interest in 
 Spiritualism is waning. The Great War with its 
 losses, separations and sorrows contributed largely to 
 the revival of interest in the subject, particularly the 
 publication of Sir Oliver Lodge's much talked-of vol- 
 ume entitled "Raymond." A reading of this book 
 fills one with commingled emotions. The sincerity of 
 the author is beyond question, and the weight of his 
 great name is impressive. Moreover, there is the throb 
 of a father's great heart in every page; a heart bruised 
 if not broken by the death in battle of a brilliant and 
 devoted son. Some parts of the book are much more 
 valuable than others, for instance the chapters de- 
 voted to Life, Death, and Immortality. Least con- 
 vincing to most readers is the portion in which com- 
 munications from Raymond are chronicled in minutest 
 detail. 
 
 In the church to which I ministered for many years 
 an old gentleman who was a devout and enthusiastic 
 Spiritualist held membership. He was anxious to con- 
 vert me to his views, sent me numerous articles, and 
 on the occasions when I was a guest in his home re- 
 galed me with many experiences in the realm of what 
 he called "Revealments" from the other world. He had 
 119 
 
120 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 lost two sons in infancy, and hanging upon the walls 
 of his living room were two life-sized portraits of 
 young men, which, he explained to me, were painted 
 by Spirit hands. The pictures were devoid of person- 
 ality and were so palpably spurious as to deceive only 
 the most credulous. Yet, withal, I could not but ad- 
 mire the old gentleman's sturdy insistence that he 
 knew death does not end all. 
 
 Several reasons occur to me why Spiritualism as it 
 is commonly explained and interpreted does not satisfy 
 the deep yearnings with which it presumes to deal. I 
 agree with Dean Inge — "If communication between 
 the dead and the living were part of the nature of 
 things, they would have been established long ago 
 beyond cavil, for there are few things which men have 
 wished more eagerly to believe." Then, the so-called 
 "communications" for the most part are trivial, trifling, 
 and unimportant. Nothing really vital has been added 
 to our stock of knowledge through spiritualistic mes- 
 sages. Again, if such communications were possible 
 it is difficult to understand why they cannot be made 
 directly to men and women who are spiritually minded 
 instead of through intermediaries who are often of in- 
 ferior intelligence and sometimes of doubtful charac- 
 ters. And what is still more fundamental — if it be 
 possible for the dead to bring us information as to the 
 nature of the life beyond death, it is a large question 
 whether such knowledge would not disturb the natural 
 order of things, and hinder, rather than help, us in 
 the life that now is. Pope's fine couplet is to the point : 
 
 O blindness to the future; kindly given, 
 
 That each may fill the circle marked by heaven. 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 121 
 
 These mild and tentative strictures of Spiritualism 
 are made with due regard for the open mind as well 
 as the good men and women who believe that the 
 dead return. There is something in this desire to lift 
 the veil and see what lies beyond the grave that is thor- 
 oughly human and readily understood. Not only so, 
 but back of and underneath the trappings of Spiritual- 
 ism, the tinsel and the show, there must be some 
 truth. It could scarcely be otherwise. I do not credit 
 highly the Spiritualism that finds satisfaction in "table- 
 tipping," "rappings," "trumpets," "ouija boards," and 
 trance mediums, but I believe in what I shall call "The 
 Higher Spiritualism," by which term I mean not com- 
 munication but communion with the spirits of the dead. 
 
 THE RULERSHIP OF THE NOBLE DEAD 
 
 Jesus said that God is not the God of the dead but 
 of the living. It is unlikely that many people believe 
 in "soul sleeping," — a doctrine which holds that the 
 vital spark is snuffed out by death until such a time as 
 it please God to rekindle it. The dead still rule us, not 
 merely from "sceptered urns" but from deeper sources 
 yet. It is difficult to say which is the more powerful 
 influence — the presence and inspiration of the living 
 or the spiritual presence and power of those whom we 
 call dead. Not a day passes without some reminder 
 through newspaper, conversation, book, picture or 
 monument of that great company who are not of the 
 flesh but of the spirit. I open a volume of poetry, and 
 the first selection that catches my eye is a sonnet to a 
 great Soul who lives not in a name merely but in the 
 thoughts, aspirations and deeds of a generation that 
 
122 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 never knew him in the flesh. I listen to a gifted orator 
 speaking in behalf of a worthy cause. His is a voice 
 in the wilderness, and he pleads eloquently in behalf of 
 the poor, the down-trodden, and the long-suffering. I 
 see the flash of his eye and feel the thrill of his voice as 
 he calls upon the citizenry in the name of a mighty 
 leader, dead for more than half a century and bids us 
 follow his spiritual guidance. We speak of the "silent 
 majority" by which is meant the unnumbered millions 
 who have gone the way of all the earth. Silent they 
 are, but not powerless. Nor is this "rulership of the 
 dead" explained by the immortality of influence, the 
 "Choir Invisible" of George Eliot's famous poem. 
 Here is something plus the immortality of influence, 
 something deeper, more potent still! 
 
 It is good to visit Mount Vernon on the lordly Po- 
 tomac when Spring has clothed the Virginia fields and 
 forests in garments of velvety green, or better still 
 when Autumn has made the landscape a riot of color 
 — crimson, maroon and gold. What a high adventure 
 to stroll leisurely over that spacious estate, to wander 
 from room to room in the noble mansion, or stand un- 
 covered by the simple and unadorned tomb where the 
 dust of Washington reposes. So to do is to sense the 
 dignity, the courage, the patience, of that quiet and 
 courtly Virginian who willingly placed everything he 
 had on the altar of liberty, and then steadfastly held his 
 own through detraction, storm and calumny. Does he 
 not seem alive ? Do not the place, the house, the yard, 
 the fields seem filled with his strong and intrepid spirit? 
 Instead of being less than he was when in the flesh, 
 General Washington in death is more than he was in 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 123 
 
 life. One feels this same emotion at Monticello where 
 Jefferson lived and his dust slumbers; at Lincoln's 
 tomb at Springfield, or in and about his old-fashioned 
 homestead there; at Emerson's grave at Concord; at 
 Mrs. Browning's at Florence, Italy; yea, and also at 
 countless graves of those unknown to fame who were 
 loved long since and their physical presence lost awhile. 
 Still more important is the fact that this emotion and 
 the stirring of the same is not confined to any particu- 
 lar 1 place, indeed is independent of locality though it 
 may be intensified by the place or occasion where the 
 imagination is quickened. 
 
 The ministry of the Spirits of the great dead is im- 
 pressively set forth in that notable oration of Henry 
 Ward Beecher's on the effect of the death of Lincoln. 
 I do not think there is anything to compare with it in 
 our language either in solemn and stately cadence or the 
 value of its deep and abiding spiritual worth. As he 
 describes the progress of the funeral train across the 
 States, the orator rises to majestic heights. "And 
 now the martyr is moving in triumphal march mightier 
 than when alive. The Nation rises up at every stage 
 of his coming. Cities and States are his pall-bearers, 
 and the cannon beats the hour with solemn progression. 
 Dead, dead, dead, and yet speaking. Is Washington 
 dead? Is Hampden dead? Is David dead? Is any 
 man that was ever fit to live dead? Disenthralled of 
 flesh, and risen in the unobstructed sphere where pas- 
 sion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His 
 life now is grafted upon the Infinite and will be fruitful 
 as no earthly life can be." 
 
 This is not merely superb rhetoric; it is that and 
 
124 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 more. The spiritual influence of Abraham Lincoln is 
 more powerful than was his fruitful life in the flesh. 
 Each generation is destined to be the beneficiary of his 
 sacrificial labors, but most of all the wide world is 
 forever blessed through the heritage of his spirit freed 
 from all limitations, and available to everyone who 
 knows the story of his fidelity and patience even unto 
 death. 
 
 JESUS' SPIRITUAL PRESENCE MORE POTENT THAN 
 PHYSICAL 
 
 Certain passages of Scripture which throw light 
 upon the potency of the Spirit's ministry deserve to be 
 reexamined and studied afresh. Portions of the con- 
 versation that Jesus had with His disciples in the upper 
 room are very much to the point. To the eleven friends 
 He said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is ex- 
 pedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away 
 the Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart I 
 will send him unto you." Moffatt's rendering is even 
 more suggestive : "My going is for your good." Wey- 
 mouth's translation is also helpful : "It is to your ad- 
 vantage that I go away." Commenting on these words 
 of Jesus', an English scholar says that it was "A lof- 
 tier experience to which they would be introduced." 
 In what does this "loftier experience" consist? What 
 was the "advantage" that was to come through the 
 withdrawal of Jesus' physical presence from the world ? 
 There can be but one answer: His spiritual presence 
 was to replace His physical presence. The Holy 
 Spirit, the "Comforter," the "Helper," the "Advocate," 
 ( the "Ally," came instead. Jesus' personal ministry 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 125 
 
 was of necessity limited both by time and geography. 
 His companionship in the flesh could only be with a 
 chosen few. His spiritual comradeship is with all who 
 desire Him, and has eternity for scope and range. This 
 spiritual ministry of Jesus is without limitation save 
 where the human will is imposed and the door of the 
 heart unopened to His repeated knockings. 
 
 Jesus assured His disciples that they would do 
 "greater works" than He had done, and He gave as the 
 reason "because I go unto my Father." It is simply a 
 fact, not only of New Testament history but of many 
 centuries of history since the Christian Era, that Jesus 
 accomplished through His spiritual ministry greater 
 works by far than those done in the days of His flesh. 
 Here is an aspect of Christian truth we are slow to 
 receive; our stress is on the physical, our emphasis on 
 the tangible. We are slow to believe in a spiritual min- 
 istry apart from the material with which we have not 
 only knowledge, but familiarity. Perhaps if we were 
 willing to believe in the priority of the spiritual, the 
 doctrine of the physical return of our Lord would 
 not seem so important. It is an interesting fact that the 
 word "parousia" which is generally translated "com- 
 ing" when referring to the Apostle Paul is twice trans- 
 lated "presence." There are able scholars who believe 
 the word should be translated "presence" wherever it 
 occurs in the New Testament. 
 
 It is a tendency everywhere observable to become 
 enamored with the outward trappings; to treasure the 
 physical vehicle above the spiritual content. Is it not 
 noteworthy that the author of the Hebrew epistle con- 
 trasts the old order, its forms and ceremonies; Mount 
 
126 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Sinai with fire and smoke, the sound of trumpet, with 
 Mount Zion the New Jerusalem, the hosts of angels, the 
 general assembly and Church of the first born, and the 
 Spirit of just men made perfect? It is to the latter, 
 he says, that we are come and his argument is that these 
 latter blessings are better than the old, are indeed best 
 of all. 
 
 In that appointment that Jesus kept with His dis- 
 ciples in Galilee, He gave His final instructions to go 
 into all the world and make Disciples of all the Na- 
 tions. Then He gave the promise of His perpetual 
 presence, saying — "Lo, I am with you always, even 
 unto the end of the world." Or, to quote Weymouth 
 again: "I am with you always, day by day, even to 
 the close of the age." Here then in another form or 
 phrasing is the promise of the spiritual presence of 
 Christ. To be Christ's disciple then is to practice His 
 presence, to respond to the leadings of His spirit, to 
 be comforted, inspired, flooded, illumined through, of, 
 and by the Spirit. An oft-quoted saying of St. John 
 will bear much study and reflection — "Beloved now we 
 are children of God and it is not yet made manifest 
 what we shall be; we know that if He shall be mani- 
 fested we shall be like Him ; for ye shall see Him even 
 as He is." Yes, as He is, not as He was! 
 
 CONSEQUENCES OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION 
 
 Is not this concept of spiritual communion higher 
 and truer than that of communication with those who 
 have passed beyond the range of sight and hearing? 
 Is there not an appeal here to the finest instincts of our 
 being, to the deepest yearnings of the soul? To me 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 127 
 
 there is and I am debtor to it a hundred-fold. It may 
 be profitable to reflect on what some rare souls have 
 said of communion with the dead. Writing of his 
 father, Thomas Carlyle said : "Perhaps my father, all 
 that essentially was my father, is even now near me, 
 with me. Both he and I are with God." John Henry 
 Newman wrote : "I am learning more than hitherto to 
 live in the presence of the dead — this is a gain which 
 strange faces cannot take away." 
 
 Sir Robertson Nicoll in his "Reunion and Eternity" 
 written while the Great War raged fiercely, has these 
 thoughtful sentences — "Is it granted to us to have 
 actual communion with the dead before the reunion? 
 We have no distinct revelation, and yet 'in clear dream 
 and solemn vision' much may be granted to the soul. 
 Christ holds the dead by His right hand and His left 
 hand holds ours. Is it possible that new currents of 
 covenanting love may pass through Him from one to 
 the other? How many can speak of sudden uplif tings, 
 touches, guidances, which seem to come from the 
 ancient love?" 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote to Lady Byron in 
 1857 : "I have got past the time when I feel that my 
 heavenly friends are lost by going there. I feel them 
 nearer, rather than farther off. So good-by dear, dear 
 friend, and if you see morning in our Father's house 
 before I do, carry my love to those that wait for me, 
 and if I pass first, you will find me there, and we shall 
 love each other for ever." 
 
 Dr. John Ker wrote to a very dear friend : "I have 
 the firm belief that the future world is not cut off 
 from this, but one with it — one through Him who is 
 
128 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Lord both of the living and the dead. Those who 
 enter into it retain a personal and conscious existence 
 near to Him, and He will find means of keeping up 
 their connection, I do well believe, with that world 
 which they have left. It is agreeable both to reason 
 and Scripture that this should be so, and it is very con- 
 solatory to us to think that we and our dear friends 
 shall still have real union." 
 
 Such testimony as this from men of letters and 
 learning is good. But not alone the scholar and the 
 saint, the woman in the home and the man in the 
 crowd can also keep company with the elect of all time 
 if they so desire. And what shall we say of the hearts 
 bowed down that have been lifted up, supported by un- 
 seen helpers. Here is a letter written to Dr. Joseph 
 Fort Newton during his ministry at the City Temple, 
 London, and reproduced in his diary of England during 
 war times. It is a most human piece of writing and 
 it is much more — it is a confession of faith in the 
 Higher Spiritualism — 
 
 "Dear Minister: 
 
 "Early in the war I lost my husband, and I was 
 mad with grief. I had the children to bring up and 
 no one to help me, so I just raged against God for 
 taking my husband from my side and yet calling 
 Himself good. Someone told me that God could be 
 to me all that my husband was and more. And so 
 I got into the way of defying God in my heart. 
 'Now and here,' I used to say, 'this is what I want 
 and God can't give it to me.' After a while I came, 
 somehow, to feel that God liked the honesty of it; 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 129 
 
 liked this downright telling Him all my needs, 
 though I had no belief that He could help me. One 
 day I had gone into the garden to gather some 
 flowers, and suddenly I knew that my husband was 
 there with me — just himself, only braver and 
 stronger than he had ever been. I do not know 
 how I knew ; but I knew. There was no need of a 
 medium, for I had found God myself, and, finding 
 Him, I had found my husband too." 
 
 Surely here is something more comforting and deeply 
 satisfying than recourse to darkened rooms and the 
 crude and sometimes repellent paraphernalia of seances 
 and curtained Cabinet. "Mystical experience," says 
 Rufus M. Jones, "does not supply concrete informa- 
 tion. It does not bring new finite facts, new items 
 that can be used in a description of 'the scenery and 
 circumstance' of the realm beyond our sense-horizons. 
 It is the awareness of a Presence, the consciousness of 
 a Beyond, the discovery as James put it that 'we are 
 continuous with a More of the same quality, which is 
 cooperative in us and in touch with us.' " 
 
 Think you the aerial wires 
 
 Whisper more than spirits may? 
 
 Think you that our strong desires 
 Touch no distance when we pray? 
 
 Think you that no wings are flying 
 'Twixt the living and the dying? 
 
 It may be I should not close this study without in- 
 cluding my own witness to this most intimate and per- 
 sonal of subjects. One has not lived very long or 
 deeply until there breaks over him the billows of that 
 oldest and newest of experiences — death in the home. 
 
130 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 I cannot think of my own dead either as sleeping dream- 
 lessly or inhabiting some far distant realm aloof and 
 withdrawn from those of us who are still in the body. 
 I can no more conceive of this than I can of God dwell- 
 ing a million miles away, and that prayer to Him must 
 perforce bridge so deep and awful a chasm. The com- 
 panionship of those who are absent from this life of 
 sight and touch and sound I continue to enjoy, but on 
 the plane now where spirit meets with spirit and the 
 sense of spiritual presence is strong and comforting. 
 
 Tender and blessed forever are the memories of a 
 lovely daughter who in the mystic days of maidenhood 
 
 Standing with reluctant feet 
 Where the brook and river meet 
 
 went out from us through the old, old gateway of 
 death. Lovers, friends, and comrades were we, and 
 never more so than through the weeks when she 
 bravely struggled to live and carry to fruition those 
 earthly hopes that rightly were hers to cherish. When 
 I reflect upon those days I find nowhere else such full- 
 voicing of their wonder and blessedness as in the 
 lines — 
 
 The hours I spent with thee dear heart 
 Are as a string of pearls to me, 
 I count them over every one apart, 
 My Rosary, My Rosary. 
 
 Yes, as a strand of the fairest and costliest of pearls 
 were those hours with our little girl in the days of her 
 heroic struggle for restoration to health. Came then 
 the day of days when early on the morning of July 
 19, 1 918, her wondering eyes closed on the scenes of 
 
THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 131 
 
 time and change. Never since has she been far from 
 me nor is she now. I own the consciousness of her 
 nearness and of companying with her. Sometimes 
 amid the jostling crowds in the streets of a great city; 
 sometimes as I walk over the quiet country fields or 
 through the vocal woods ; sometimes in the hush of the 
 communion service in the place of worship ; sometimes 
 in the midst of that inner circle in the home which she 
 so adorned — no matter where or when, I feel the win- 
 some strength and know the restful radiance of her 
 spiritual presence. 
 
 Thus I humbly live and gladly have my being in an 
 abiding sense of the Eternal nearness and the unseen 
 comradeship of a glorious company. 
 
 You think them "out of reach," your dead? 
 Nay, by my own dead, I deny 
 Your "out of reach" — Be comforted: 
 Tis not so far to die. 
 
X 
 
 GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 
 
 How the Divine Spirit Appraises the Worth of a 
 Christian Congregation and the Worshipers 
 Therein 
 
Rev. II :i. 
 
 And there was given me a reed like unto a 
 rod: and one said, Rise, and measure the 
 temple of God, and the altar, and them that 
 worship therein. 
 
X 
 
 GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 
 
 The heroic company for whom the book of Revela- 
 tion was written understood its cryptic allusions. 
 Through a period of dark and turbulent years the 
 first century Church conducted meetings in secret; and 
 by the aid of symbols, signs and passwords continued 
 her mission in the face of bitter and deadly persecu- 
 tion. The visions, figures, and cryptograms of Reve- 
 lation, which have been the source of almost endless 
 controversy, brought warning and comfort to our 
 brethren of the apostolic age. Assuming that this book 
 was written primarily for the generation to which it 
 was addressed, it does not follow that it contains no 
 message for these latter days. In a secondary sense the 
 book is freighted with much that is profitable for every 
 generation. 
 
 Interpreters of various schools of theology agree that 
 the allusion in Rev. 1 1 : 1 is to the church, its worship 
 and conduct. God is represented as appraising His 
 people and their worship. The apostle is bidden to 
 discern the spiritual dimensions of the house of God. 
 
 First, he measures — 
 
 THE AREA OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 Yes, measure the temple, but not merely the physical 
 area, for that were the least important. Some of the 
 135 
 
136 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 most spiritual congregations have worshiped in small 
 and unimpressive edifices. Trinity Chapel, Brighton, 
 where Frederick W. Robertson preached those sermons 
 which were heard the world around, is said to have 
 sittings for only four hundred. Measure, then, not the 
 spaciousness or seating capacity, but observe how much 
 of the whole life of the worshiper is to be found in 
 the house of God. Do the worshipers bring their all 
 to church? What of the vision range of the minister 
 and the office-bearers? Is the world objective of Jesus 
 Christ kept constantly before the people, or are the 
 ideals of the Temple provincial, narrow and mean? 
 It has sometimes been urged — and with good intention 
 — not to bring workaday memories or thoughts of 
 vocation into the house of God. There is a sense in 
 which such advice is good, but unless it be qualified 
 or explained it may be misleading. Let men bring 
 thoughts of shop, store, office and farm to the house 
 of God; let women come with recollections of house- 
 hold duties, the training of children, the never ending 
 round of domestic cares. Thus worshiping, it may 
 be that both men and women will come to perceive the 
 intimate relation between daily toil and the Spirit Di- 
 vine, and be strengthened accordingly. 
 
 God is everywhere measuring the churches today. 
 Are they big enough spiritually to serve and save this 
 generation? Are they sufficiently maintained to min- 
 ister to every need of the community ? Are they feed- 
 ing the emotions and starving the intellect? Are they 
 providing for the adult life of the congregation and ig- 
 noring the children? Are the churches measuring up 
 to this need of the whole of life and supplying richly 
 
GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 137 
 
 those great aids to faith that are necessary for the 
 life abundant or, are they exclusive, snobbish and 
 class-bound ? 
 
 THE ALTAR 
 
 "Rise and measure the altar." The altar is the soul 
 of the temple. The idea of sacrifice is as old as reli- 
 gion. When the artist paints primitive man at worship, 
 he shows him kneeling before an altar on which a 
 smoking sacrifice is laid. It is the altar that has 
 given Christianity its supreme place among the world's 
 religions. The communion of the Lord's Supper is 
 more than a memorial ; it is also a symbol. The broken 
 bread and the fruit of the vine speak to us of His altar 
 experience, but do they mirror in any way the altar in 
 the lives of the worshipers? The basic law of the 
 Christian life is the Cross. The very word "altar" 
 is impressive ; there is in it the idea of sacrificial service 
 and gifts, the ministry of renunciation. A church is 
 great in proportion to the size of its altar life. An 
 individual Christian is a power with God and man only 
 as the altar bulks largely in his thought and deed. 
 
 First century Christianity had no architecture 
 worthy of name, no edifice even of the humbler kind. 
 Its members met in upper rooms, caves of the earth, 
 private homes — anywhere that they were able to come 
 together and for the time be safe from the fire of the 
 persecutors. The churches of that day boasted no 
 "coffers" or material securities of any kind; they knew 
 no organized life save of the slenderest, but they did 
 possess the altar in a wondrous way. They shared their 
 all with the humblest of earth, and they gave themselves 
 
138 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 without reserve for a redeemed society. How promi- 
 nently the altar was in St. Paul's life. How noble are 
 his flaming words; when replying to the critics who 
 questioned his apostolic credentials, he cried : "Hence- 
 forth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded in 
 my body the marks of Jesus." It was through the 
 altar marks made by the lion which crunched his arm, 
 that the body of David Livingstone was identified 
 before it was buried with impressive honors in West- 
 minster Abbey. 
 
 "Rise and measure the altar," is a solemn injunction 
 to modern Christians. What is the altar life of the 
 average congregation ? What is the local church doing 
 for the community ? What service, what sacrifice, what 
 ministry to the unfortunate, the despondent, the out- 
 cast, the poor? What of the altar in the lives of the 
 members? Is it strong or faint? Is pride still domi- 
 nating the rank and file of the Christian common- 
 wealth? Is prejudice still swaying the multitude of 
 believers ? Is avarice and greed corroding the hearts of 
 those who acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus? Have 
 we learned nothing new concerning sacrifice since the 
 great war? Eighty thousand of America's youth gave 
 their lives to make the world safe for women and little 
 children. What of us who possess vigor, influence and 
 talent, what are we giving ? What of the altar experi- 
 ence on our part to make Christianity vital and fruitful 
 the world over? Is the Cross only a symbol, a mere 
 emblem to adorn a necklace or ornament for a watch 
 fob? Yes, measure the altar and let us know the 
 truth — even if it be an exposure of our meager ac- 
 complishments in the realm of the spiritual. 
 
GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 139 
 
 "and them that worship therein" 
 
 The measuring passes now from the temple and the 
 altar to the individual. True, the individual has been 
 included in, both the measurement of the temple and 
 the altar, but a more personal and individual appraisal 
 must now be submitted to. God is about to take our 
 measure in soul wealth. Have we learned to endure? 
 How much patience do we possess? Is the forgiving 
 spirit large with us? How long can we harbor a 
 grudge? To what distance and inconvenience are we 
 willing to go in order to right a wrong? Can we see 
 the weak wronged without indignation ? Can we exult 
 in the downfall of an enemy? Do we try to be just to 
 those whom we do not like ? Can we bear this measur- 
 ing rod of Almighty God without a sense of littleness? 
 Are we growing in the great graces of the spirit ? The 
 questions are personal, searching, persistent, inescap- 
 able. "Lord is it I? Is it I? Is it I?" 
 
 There are a host of little Christians in the world, not 
 children, but little-minded, little-hearted, little men and 
 women who claim to follow the Great Christ. The 
 mystery is profound. How can a man be little who 
 really seeks to follow Jesus. No one can follow Him 
 and remain small of soul, mean and narrow of mind 
 — the process of following Jesus is an enlarging experi- 
 ence, the moving from lower to higher ground and a 
 consequent expansion of vision power. If littleness 
 still possess us and we call ourselves Christian, be 
 sure we are not following, we have halted; uncon- 
 sciously we have stopped and He has gone on. 
 
140 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 By what standard does God measure the churches, 
 the area of the temple, the altar and them that wor- 
 ship therein? A popular custom is to measure our- 
 selves by others and observe with pride wherein our 
 accomplishments are larger and our growth more con- 
 siderable than neighbors, friends, fellow church mem- 
 bers. A man looks about him for instance, and after 
 the manner of a certain infamous Pharisee solilo- 
 quizes : 'As compared with other folks I'm a pretty 
 good kind of a Christian ; I attend church more regu- 
 larly than my neighbors next door ; I can offer a bet- 
 ter prayer in public than any man of the Official Board; 
 I thank God I am a more efficient Churchman than any- 
 one else in the congregation." That standard of meas- 
 urement is an abomination; it is mean, niggardly and 
 contemptible. 
 
 There are those, also, who while they scorn to meas- 
 ure themselves by others are quite ready to measure 
 themselves by themselves. These well meaning folk 
 look back over the years and see wherein they can 
 trace a growth in spiritual things and thus contrasting 
 present attainments with past, believe themselves to 
 find ground for self-congratulation. This method of 
 measuring is not so objectionable as the other, but it 
 is faulty and inadequate. In II Cor. 10:12, the apostle 
 alludes to Christians of that day who measured them- 
 selves by themselves, and he charged them with folly. 
 The difficulty is that such measuring keeps one self- 
 centered; it feeds pride, tickles vanity, chills enthusi- 
 asm, smothers the noblest impulses. Behold a more 
 excellent way I show you: 
 
GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 141 
 
 JESUS THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT 
 
 God's manner of measuring us is in Jesus Christ, His 
 son. Peter refers to Jesus as our example and bids 
 us follow in His steps. Paul in a memorable passage 
 enjoins the followers of Christ at Ephesus to strive 
 toward high ideals : "Till we all come in the unity of 
 faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto 
 a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fullness of Christ." The night of His betrayal Jesus 
 gave to His disciples a new commandment, and bade 
 them love one another even as He loved them. God, 
 therefore, is measuring the temple, and the altar, and 
 them that worship therein by and through His Son. 
 Consider how fully His measurements fill the require- 
 ment of the text. 
 
 How wonderfully His spirit fills the temple, minis- 
 tering to the whole life. Lo, His abundant provisions 
 for the old, the middle aged, the young and the little 
 children. No one is forgotten or overlooked ; the out- 
 cast, the poor, the notorious sinner, the toiler, the house- 
 wife, the scholar, the peasant — all are objects of His 
 love and consideration. The sympathies of Jesus, like 
 the waters of some great ocean whose waves lap the 
 shores of many continents, reach every experience of 
 human life. He is everybody's Christ. He is the 
 same yesterday, today and forever. If lifted up in the 
 thoughts and deeds of His followers, He will draw all 
 men unto Himself. 
 
 In Jesus' life the altar was supreme. He came not 
 to be ministered unto. The spirit of sacrifice in His 
 life permeates the pages of the Gospels as Mary's oint- 
 
142 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 ment filled the home of Simon the leper with its sweet 
 fragrance. He was among the people as one who 
 serveth. He set His face toward Jerusalem and of- 
 fered Himself upon the high altar of the Cross for all 
 mankind. Thus, he has become, as the author of the 
 Hebrew Epistle has aptly phrased it — "our altar." 
 
 With what vastness of mind and affection does Jesus 
 meet the yearnings of the soul that seeks Him; what 
 amplitude in the spirit of Jesus. No petty prejudices, 
 no sordid ambition, no greed for place or possession, 
 warped or dwarfed His character. The words that fell 
 from His lips were words of ocean-like breadth : "all," 
 "whosoever," "everyone," — these were the phrases 
 oftenest upon His lips. How His abundant love, His 
 whole-hearted forgiveness, His gracious dealings with 
 publican and sinners rebukes the oft-times bigotry of 
 some who claim Him as Lord and Master! Measured 
 by this high standard, how small are even the most 
 spiritual of men and women; compared with His sacri- 
 ficial acts, how insignificant the most generous of the 
 churches appear. In the deepest sense the spirit and the 
 principles of Jesus are measureless. The religion of 
 His day was that of the stated feast, the stipulated 
 tithe, the arbitrary service, the formal and stereotyped 
 Pharisaism. Jesus came with His large and lovely 
 outlook upon life, His deep and penetrating insight into 
 human nature. He taught the giving of good measure, 
 pressed down, shaken together and running over. In- 
 stead of the measured mile standard He taught the 
 nobility of the second mile; instead of stopping with 
 forgiving one's enemy seven times, He multiplied that 
 number by seventy, which was just another way of 
 
GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 143 
 
 saying, every time you have the opportunity, extend 
 forgiveness fully and gladly. In the garden He left 
 the majority of His disciples at the outer edge. He 
 took Peter, James and John a little farther with Him ; 
 then, He Himself went farthest of all into the depths 
 of the Gethsemane experience — a symbolic act. 
 
 My brethren, it is not possible to weigh or measure 
 infinite love. No canvas is large enough for Jesus 
 Christ. Men have been trying for centuries to sum- 
 marize the character of Christ in lecture, essay, and bi- 
 ography; they have failed, or at the best, succeeded 
 only partially. I recall the title of one of these multi- 
 farious books with Jesus as theme — a title of becoming 
 modesty and singular good taste: "Jesus, An Un- 
 finished Portrait." "Unfinished" is here rightly used. 
 What artist, orator, preacher, essayist, philosopher, has 
 appraised wholly that Great Soul, whether on canvas, 
 in marble, or printed page? God be praised for so 
 lofty an ideal, so perfect a standard, so sinless a life 
 as He hath given unto the world in His beloved Son, 
 Jesus — our "crystal Christ!" 
 
 Why do we follow, like a flock of sheep, 
 Tradition with a crook, 
 Or leave the vastness of the calling deep 
 To paddle in a brook; 
 
 When on the hills of sunrise stands the Lord — 
 Triumphant with a lifted flaming sword? 
 
 Why, when upon our lips the great new name 
 
 Waits eager to be said; 
 
 When cloven tongues of Pentecostal flame 
 
 Burn over every head: 
 
 Do we build Babel towers to the sky 
 
 From bricks and mortar, who have wings to fly? 
 
XI 
 
 THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 
 A Brief for the Family Altar 
 
Romans 16:5. 
 And salute the church that is in their house. 
 
 Colossians 4:15. 
 
 Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea, 
 and Nymphas, and the church that is in their 
 house. 
 
 Philemon 1 :2. 
 
 And to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus 
 our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy 
 house. 
 
XI 
 
 THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 
 
 Thrice in the New Testament allusion is made to the 
 Church in the homes of believers. The first of these 
 references is to Acquila and Priscilla, that interesting 
 couple who often entertained Paul and who taught the 
 eloquent Apollos the "way of God more accurately." 
 In the sixteenth chapter of Romans the Apostle closes 
 his lengthy letter by citing a long list of distinguished 
 fellow-workers. He calls them by name and salutes 
 them in Christ Jesus. He heads this notable list with 
 that eminent husband and wife, Acquila and Priscilla. 
 He bears witness that they jeopardized their own lives 
 for his. For such loyalty he expresses his deep grati- 
 tude and follows this with a salutation to "the church 
 that is in their house." The second reference is to 
 Colossians 4:15, where a certain Nymphia is remem- 
 bered and "the Church in her house." The third is 
 in the letter of Paul to Philemon, which consists of 
 but a single chapter of twenty-five verses. In this brief 
 epistle the Apostle paves the way for the restoration of 
 a runaway servant, Onesimus by name. He beseeches 
 Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a servant 
 but more than a servant, a brother beloved. The salu- 
 tation of this letter is a pen picture of a delightful 
 Christian home of the first century. It is directed "to 
 147 
 
148 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Ap- 
 phia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow-soldier and 
 to the church in thy house." These three allusions to 
 the church in the home are brimful of lessons for 
 modern disciples of the Christ. 
 
 WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 What is the Church ? Certainly it is not the building 
 save in a figurative use of the word. The building 
 where the church gathers for public worship is the 
 House of God, or the "meeting house" ; it is the church 
 only in a symbolic sense. The Church is more than 
 the edifice, greater than the structure, mightier than 
 the cathedral. The Greek word for church means not 
 "called out" as has sometimes been said, but simply 
 "called together." It connotes a group of people com- 
 ing together with a like purpose of mind and heart. 
 In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus said: 
 "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, 
 there am I in the midst of them." This is a fairly 
 adequate description of a church. Wherever a group 
 of people are gathered together in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, there is a church, according to Matthew. The 
 idea is developed by St. Paul who conceives of the 
 church as the "body of Christ," a building of which 
 Christ is the "chief Cornerstone," and also "the bride 
 of Christ." 
 
 FAMILY WORSHIP AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY 
 
 It is a matter of more than passing interest that in 
 the dawn of the Christian era much of the worship 
 centered in the home or family life. A study of the 
 
THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 
 
 149 
 
 New Testament, particularly Acts of the Apostles and 
 the Epistles, indicates how widespread this custom 
 was. To be sure we have an explanation at hand and 
 we offer it easily and naturally. We say there were no 
 public meeting places where the early Christians could 
 meet with safety and convenience, hence the use of their 
 homes for this purpose. That was often the case. 
 Sometimes they met in caves in the earth, as the author 
 of the Hebrew Epistle intimates; sometimes in an up- 
 per room as at Troas, described in Acts the twentieth 
 chapter; but oftenest the private residences of loyal 
 disciples were used for the public services. It may 
 be that the reference to "the Church in thy house," in 
 the three texts cited is to the public gatherings in the 
 private homes of followers of Jesus Christ. But the 
 Christian families of that day had a Church in their 
 home quite apart from the meeting of the brethren for 
 public worship there. Those of "the way" were ac- 
 customed to gather together in the family circle in the 
 name of Jesus. This can be shown from different 
 angles, but from none other so significantly as that of 
 the observance of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 An examination of Acts and the Epistles, leads us to 
 believe that first century disciples observed the Lord's 
 Supper in their homes and as a part of the daily meal. 
 Bishop Lightfoot believed this practice continued for 
 nearly a century. In the forty-sixth verse of the second 
 chapter of Acts, after three thousand were obedient to 
 the Gospel, we read that "day by day they continued 
 with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at 
 home." Now the term "breaking bread" here is un- 
 doubtedly a reference to the Lord's Supper. In Acts 
 
150 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 the twentieth chapter it is written that Paul met with 
 the disciples at Troas and upon the first day of the 
 week were gathered together to "break bread." Here 
 again is the same expression referring to the Lord's 
 Supper. Just as the Passover was a family feast and 
 was presided over by the father who explained its mean- 
 ing, so we have good reason to believe that in the 
 beginnings of Christianity the Lord's Supper was simi- 
 larly celebrated in the homes of the Christians, and for 
 a considerable period observed every day. Gradually 
 the public observance which came to be on the first day 
 of the week superseded the family observance, although 
 not entirely for many years, as we may believe. 
 
 It is a question whether by abandoning the family 
 observance of the Lord's Supper we have not lost 
 something helpful, desirable and thoroughly Christian. 
 There is no reason why a Christian home might not at 
 least upon occasions of family reunions, observe simply 
 and helpfully the Lord's Supper, either at the begin- 
 ning or the close of the family meal. The institution 
 is a memorial. When Jesus instituted it He said, 
 "This do in remembrance of Me," and St. Paul ad- 
 vised, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink the 
 cup ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come." There 
 is something tender, beautiful and uplifting in the 
 simple memorial of the Lord's Supper when kept by 
 the faithful, whether in small or large gatherings. 
 Might not its observance in the home, occasionally at 
 least, make for a growth in grace and knowledge of 
 the Lord, and a binding of the family together in Him? 
 I think it might. 
 
THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 151 
 
 THE DECLINE OF FAMILY WORSHIP A CALAMITY 
 
 The decline of family worship is an ominous thing 
 — one that chills the heart of thoughtful Christians 
 everywhere. Fifty years ago, according to reliable 
 testimony, it was the exception to find a Christian home 
 without family worship. Today it is the exceptional 
 Christian home that observes daily devotions. In tens 
 of thousands of church members' homes there is no 
 definite recognition of God — not even grace at the table. 
 Need it be a ten days' wonder when young people from 
 such nominally Christian homes grow up into material- 
 istic and worldly ways? In such homes the children 
 see and hear much pertaining to business, society, par- 
 ties, motion pictures, and the daily round of tangible 
 things. But they observe no leaning on the Everlast- 
 ing Arms, they hear no calling on God in prayer, they 
 see no recognition of His bounty. Lo! the Bible rests 
 unopened on the table or shelf ; the hymnals are buried 
 beneath sheafs of popular sheet music ! Is it strange 
 the mind of youth in such environment comes to think 
 of God as present only at church ; the Bible a book espe- 
 cially for the minister, and religion something inci- 
 dental or apart from active, busy and successful life? 
 If our children grow up with no sense of the intangible, 
 who must bear the blame? 
 
 The restoration of the family altar is not an easy 
 task. Perhaps it never can be set up just as it was 
 fifty years ago. It is a question whether some forms 
 of family worship once in use are desirable in this day. 
 One would hesitate to prescribe any particular form 
 of family worship adaptable to every home and in 
 
152 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 every circumstance. The principal thing is a recogni- 
 tion of God. If by simple service at the table with 
 readings from the Scripture or some aid to worship, in 
 which the various members may participate and the 
 minds of the family group turned Godward, then the 
 great purpose has been achieved. 
 
 THE RAINBOWS THAT HALO THE FAMILY ALTAR 
 
 There is something exquisitely tender and withal 
 ennobling that comes to a home by way of the family 
 altar. In times of prosperity and joy it is good to praise 
 God, to take Him into sweet and intimate account; to 
 recognize Him gladly and with thanksgiving when 
 the days are bright and happy and all is well. How 
 lovely the strains of a favorite hymn at such a time ; a 
 song of jubilant praise! How blessed to gather about 
 the piano and all join in the melody of the grand old 
 hymn, "O Thou Fount of Every Blessing," or to lift 
 the voices in the more modern but tuneful "Count Your 
 Many Blessings, Name Them One by One." To re- 
 member God in the days of peace and plenitude — there 
 is something wholesome and lovely in that. To set 
 up a family altar in the very beginnings of the home, 
 when life is young and love is new and the home 
 is rainbowed with romance and glory — that is a divine 
 transaction ! 
 
 Then when the gray days come into the home, as 
 come they will, and the burdens fall heavy, who can 
 appraise adequately the ministry of the family altar? 
 When sickness comes, when disappointment's blasts 
 storm the domestic citadel, when sorrow and suffering 
 rest like a pall over the family, how unspeakably great 
 
THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 153 
 
 and good is the altar in the home! And when death 
 invades the charmed circle and the four corners of the 
 house are smitten, then the habitual recognition of God 
 becomes a veritable way unto heaven as in the dream of 
 Jacob, and the home is transfigured into a Bethel with 
 God over all! May it not be that a reason why so 
 many homes are undone and frenzied in grief is be- 
 cause of the failure to recognize God daily? Perforce 
 He seems afar off and aloof. But no stranger is He 
 whom every day we worship and by the clear eye of 
 faith behold ! There is one verse in that justly famous 
 hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" the truth of which 
 can be realized only by practicing daily the presence 
 of God. 
 
 In every condition — in sickness, in health, 
 
 In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth, 
 
 At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea — 
 
 As your days may demand, so your succor shall be. 
 
 WHY NOT A CHURCH IN OUR HOMES? 
 
 It is doubtful if any other impression is more lasting 
 on youthful minds than definite devotional habits in 
 the home. The now sadly neglected custom of "re- 
 turning thanks" at the table before the meal is to 
 multitudes of little children the first gesture of the 
 family toward God and is a thing of reverence and of 
 faith to a child's tender nature. The presence at stated 
 intervals of a ministerial guest in the home has 
 wrought wonders in after years, and when a guest 
 room is best known to the children as "the minister's 
 room," the token is indeed a fortunate and favorable 
 one. 
 
154 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 A noble Christian woman whose life has blessed 
 thousands never ceased to cherish the memory of a 
 very great treasure in her home. It happened that the 
 silver Communion service of the Church was kept in 
 that home; the tankard, the goblets, and the plates. 
 The bread was made from "the finest of wheat," the 
 red wine was pressed from the "choicest of grapes" — 
 these too were prepared in that home and the prepara- 
 tion was a kind of Sacrament. The joy and pride her 
 father and mother took in giving their best to the care 
 of the Communion Service, and the preparing of the 
 loaf and fruit of the vine, became a holy memory to 
 this little girl who watched it all with wondering eyes. 
 Is it a mystery or surprising to know that when that 
 little girl grew to womanhood and went as a bride to 
 grace her own home, it was to bring to the hearth-stone 
 the ineffable glory of spiritual ideals? 
 
 Dr. Russell H. Conwell, the distinguished Baptist 
 minister and lecturer, says that in his opinion the 
 greatest hour in a young man's life is the hour when 
 he leads his bride into the home he has prepared for 
 her, and as the two pass over the threshold the young 
 man turns to her and exclaims: "This, my beloved, 
 is our home, I prepared it for thee; I earned it for 
 thee in the sweat of my brow. Pass thou in and reign 
 here Queen of my heart and house." I can think of 
 only one hour greater than this and that is the hour 
 when a young couple begin their wedded life with 
 prayer together for God's blessing to attend them in 
 the wonder and glory of home making. 
 
 At the time of the terrible influenza scourge in 191 8, 
 I made a call in a home which had for guest the grand- 
 
THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 
 
 155 
 
 mother who resided in a distant State. This lovely 
 woman, whose beautiful white hair was a crown of 
 glory, proudly showed me a group picture of her oldest 
 son's family. There were three attractive children, 
 and the five made as blessed a circle as one could wish 
 to see. The grandmother told me that that family 
 was joyously Christian. Their home life was simply 
 and delightfully devotional. They had a Church in 
 their house. When the epidemic closed the Church in 
 the little town where they held membership it deprived 
 them of public worship only. On Sunday morning 
 the five enjoyed a period of prayer and praise. The 
 father took charge; the mother led in prayer; the 
 oldest of the children read aloud from the Psalms; 
 another offered prayer, and they all sang from the 
 Hymnals. Each member of the family took part and 
 the service, while brief, was impressive and joyful 
 throughout. 
 
 Compared with this, how poor religion's pride 
 
 In all the pomp of method and of art, 
 
 When men display to congregations wide, 
 
 Devotion's every grace except the heart! 
 
 The power incensed, the pageant will desert 
 
 The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole; 
 
 But, haply in some cottage far apart, 
 
 Will hear well pleased, the language of the Soul, 
 
 And in His book of life the inmates poor enroll. 
 
 My brethren, we should have a church in our homes! 
 The gatherings in the family circle should, at least once 
 a day, be called in the name of Jesus, and for the pur- 
 pose of recognizing Our Heavenly Father. If we 
 have not yet set up some form of the family altar, let 
 us agree to establish it now. If the altar was at one 
 
156 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 time in our homes but has been neglected and ignored, 
 let us resolve to reetablish it at once. The House of 
 God has its inspiring and fruitful place in the life of 
 the world. Public worship cannot be superseded or 
 replaced entirely by worship in the home. We have 
 need for both ; moreover, we can have both. 
 
XII 
 
 THE LORD'S LEADING 
 A Meditation on a Memorable Hymn 
 
Psalm 23. 
 
 Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
 He maketh me to lie down in green pas- 
 tures; 
 
 He leadeth me beside still waters. 
 
 He restoreth my soul; 
 
 He guideth me in the paths of righteous- 
 ness for his name's sake. 
 
 Yea, though I walk through the valley of 
 the shadow of death, 
 
 I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me ; 
 
 Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. 
 
 Thou preparest a table before me in the 
 presence of mine enemies: 
 
 Thou hast anointed my head with oil; 
 
 My cup runneth over. 
 
 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall 
 follow me all the days of my life ; 
 
 And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah 
 for ever. 
 
XII 
 
 THE LORD'S LEADING 
 
 A MEDITATION ON A MEMORABLE HYMN 
 
 "He Leadeth Me." — Psalm 23 :2. 
 
 The Psalms of Israel have been called "The Songs 
 of a thousand years." Subsequent to the book of 
 Law, the devout Jew loved the Psalter; and along side 
 of his Bible the Christian reverently places his hymn 
 book. How impoverished the world would be without 
 its Christian hymns! It is impossible to say which 
 has accomplished the most good, the preaching or the 
 singing of the gospel. Christianity is preeminently 
 a singing religion. It is doubtful if there is a great 
 truth of the Christian faith that is not associated in 
 our minds with some impressive hymn. 
 Is it God's love for the world as manifested in His 
 great Gift? 
 
 O Love Divine, that stooped to share 
 Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear? 
 
 Is it the atonement? 
 
 There is a green hill far away, 
 
 Without a city wall : 
 Where the dear Lord was crucified, 
 
 Who died to save us all. 
 159 
 
160 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Is it the missionary passion? 
 
 Bear the news to every land, 
 Climb the steeps and cross the wave. 
 Onward, 'tis the Lord's command, 
 Jesus saves, Jesus saves. 
 
 Is it comfort for the bereaved heart? 
 
 Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish; 
 
 Come, at the shrine of God fervently kneel; 
 
 Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish, 
 
 Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. 
 
 Is it submission and resignation to God's will? 
 
 My Saviour, as thou wilt — 
 
 0 may thy will be mine ! 
 Into thy hand of love 
 
 1 would my all resign. 
 
 Is it prayer? 
 
 Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer. 
 That calls me from a world of care. 
 
 Whatever the aspect of Christian truth, there is a 
 hymn to extol it, a stanza to glorify it, a verse to 
 memorialize it. From the many great hymns, one such 
 is presented here for our study and profit. It is a hymn 
 that has for its imagery the lovely pastoral metaphor 
 of the most familiar of all the Psalms — the twenty- 
 third; a hymn known to millions by the title "He 
 Leadeth Me." 
 
 The hymn was written by Professor J. H. Gilmore, 
 who was born in Boston April 29, 1834, and died at 
 Rochester, New York, in 191 9. He composed the 
 hymn in 1862 in the very darkest period of the Civil 
 War. The writing of it was purely an inspiration. 
 Mr. Gilmore was at that time acting as supply in the 
 
THE LORD'S LEADING 161 
 
 pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. 
 One of his duties was to give a somewhat extended 
 talk at the mid-week Prayer service. He commenced 
 a series of expositions of the twenty-third Psalm, but 
 in the first address he got no further than the words, 
 "He Leadeth Me." That night he saw a depth of 
 meaning in those words that he had never seen before. 
 He spoke for half an hour on the one clause, "He 
 Leadeth Me." After the meeting was over, Mr. Gil- 
 more went to the home of a member of the church, 
 accompanied by a number of friends who had attended 
 the meeting. The little company sat up until late talk- 
 ing about the blessed assurance of Divine leadership. 
 During the conversation Mr. Gilmore took out his 
 pencil and wrote on the back of an envelope "He 
 Leadeth Me," just as it stands today, with one excep- 
 tion ; the stanzas as originally written were of six lines. 
 His wife sent the poem to the Watchman and Re- 
 flector, a leading religious journal of that day. Wil- 
 liam B. Bradbury, the composer, read the verses and 
 at once recognized their merit. He took two lines off 
 each stanza and added two others to make the chorus 
 and set the words to music. From the very first the 
 words and tune seemed inseparable. , To quote a com- 
 petent critic, "Few hymn composers have so exactly 
 caught the tone and spirit of their texts as Bradbury 
 did when he vocalized the gliding measures of 'He 
 Leadeth Me.' " 
 
 A study of this memorable hymn reveals the fact 
 that the exalted theme is developed, and enriched, 
 stanza by stanza, reaching "A glorious summit" in the 
 fourth and last. 
 
162 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 The hymn rightly opens with the transcendent 
 thought that the leading is of the Lord. 
 
 He leadeth me, O blessed thought ! 
 
 O words with Heavenly comfort fraught! 
 
 Whate'er I do, where'er I be, 
 
 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 
 
 Thus the first line fixes the mind on Divine leader- 
 ship and bids the weary soul rest securely in God. The 
 Lord's leading is a favorite theme of the Bible writers, 
 and the idea is presented and expanded under various 
 figures. In Exodus 3 :2 it is written "And Jehovah 
 went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead 
 them the way, and by night by a pillar of fire to give 
 them light." John Henry Newman employs felici- 
 tously the familiar and eloquent figure in his "Lead 
 kindly Light! amid th' encircling gloom." The meta- 
 phor is impressive even though it is impersonal and 
 the thought somewhat abstract. The twenty-third 
 Psalm portrays the Lord's leading under the similitude 
 of the Oriental shepherd who knows his sheep by name 
 and goes before them providing green pastures and 
 ample protection against their natural enemies. The 
 imagery is attractive even to us moderns, and "thy rod 
 and thy staff" a precious and comforting assurance. 
 In this hymn, however, the Leader is contemplated not 
 wholly as a shepherd, but as the Heavenly Father. 
 The idea is fuller and farther advanced than the con- 
 ception of God as revealed in the Old Testament. 
 There God is first revealed as Creator with the idea of 
 force uppermost, then as Ruler of the universe with 
 the idea of law as supreme, and finally through the 
 prophets of Israel as an Infinite Personality, a God of 
 
THE LORD'S LEADING 163 
 
 justice, purity and righteousness. The thought here 
 is of Christ who taught us by word and deed that the 
 Heavenly Father knows and cares, and is not willing 
 that the least of His children should perish. 
 
 " 'Tis God's hand that leadeth." Surely these are 
 words with Heavenly comfort fraught, words that have 
 brought peace and comfort to many a troubled soul. 
 When President Garfield was lying on a bed of suffer- 
 ing from which he was not to rise, he heard his wife 
 singing in an adjoining room, the words "Guide me, 
 O Thou great Jehovah!" As he listened, the wan face 
 of the stricken president lighted up radiantly, and to 
 a watcher by his bedside he exclaimed, "Isn't it beauti- 
 ful, isn't it full of comfort?" Some years ago Rud- 
 yard Kipling was lying at the point of death in a New 
 York hospital and all hope of his recovery had been 
 abandoned. His nurse asked him with tender solicitude 
 if there was anything he wanted. "Yes," he replied 
 feebly, "I want, I want my Heavenly Father." When 
 Alexander Campbell was dying, his wife bending over 
 him, whispered : "The blessed Savior will go with you 
 all the way." Mr. Campbell opened his eyes and ex- 
 claimed : "That He will, that He will." Oh, blessed, 
 thrice blessed is the man or woman who is able to say 
 in deep conviction and with unfaltering faith, "He 
 Leadeth Me." 
 
 In the second stanza the thought is of life's changing 
 scenes through which the Unchanging Leader leads on. 
 
 Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, 
 Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, 
 By waters still, o'er troubled sea 
 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 
 
164 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 This stanza is the most poetic of the four. The 
 antithesis is striking and the phrases set in opposition 
 were chosen with discrimination and an eye to form 
 and color. What could be lovelier than "Eden's 
 bowers"? The imagination fashions a garden of de- 
 light where flowers bloom in profusion amid a tangle 
 of vine and leaf ; a lovely spot where soft and fragrant 
 breezes blow and the songs of birds fill the air with 
 melody of the wildwood; and over all the sunlight 
 pours a golden flood. Side by side with this Edenic 
 scene is another and of "deepest gloom." The paeon has 
 become a threnody, mirth gives place to lamentation, 
 there is experience of barren gain and bitter loss. "By 
 waters still"; here the poet borrows from the shep- 
 herd's Psalm again. The scene is one of serenity, of 
 pastoral beauty, and with peace brooding over all. 
 "Troubled sea"; old ocean in the grip of a raging 
 storm, breakers thundering against the rock-bound 
 coast, a ship in distress, and sailors straining their eyes 
 through the darkness searching vainly for a harbor 
 light. Such are the diverse and different scenes sug- 
 gested by these striking phrases. 
 
 The strong and vivid contrasts of this stanza are 
 fully warranted by the facts of life. The four seasons 
 of the year mirror the seasons of the soul, and the 
 varied experiences that distinguish our days. Verily 
 we spend our years as a tale that is told, and no tale 
 is worth the telling that does not involve life's endless 
 variations. Like the changing landscape, so are our 
 lives. The "Heaven kissing hill," the desert plain, the 
 verdant meadow, and the dark forest of hidden peril, 
 God has joined together the light and the shadow. 
 
THE LORD'S LEADING 165 
 
 Both are very real; both are parts of an infinite plan 
 and necessary to man's best growth. Moreover change 
 and decay lose their terror in the presence of a Guide 
 v/ho changeth not, and One able to conduct us through 
 the "valley of the shadow." Mr. Moody delighted to 
 tell of a man who placed the inscription "God is Love" 
 on a weathervane and in letters large enough to be read 
 by passers-by. When someone chided the man with 
 irreverence, saying, "Do you mean to publish to the 
 world the belief that God is as fickle as the wind?" 
 He answered, "No, not at all, I want people to know 
 that I believe that God is love whichever way the 
 wind blows." 
 
 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but Jesus 
 Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Bet- 
 ter the changing scene and a Changeless Leader than 
 bowers of perennial beauty and no one to guide us into 
 the abundant life of the spirit. St. Paul was persuaded 
 "That neither death nor life, nor angels, nor princi- 
 palities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
 powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other creature 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of God which 
 is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So amid the varying 
 scenes from "Eden's bowers" to "deepest gloom," and 
 "by waters still" and "o'er troubled sea," our God 
 leads us on. 
 
 In the third stanza the Leader becomes the Great 
 Companion and goeth not ahead of us but at our side. 
 
 Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, 
 Nor ever murmur or repine, 
 Content, whatever lot I see, 
 Since 'tis my God that leadeth me. 
 
166 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 In the first and second stanzas, God's hand steadies 
 and guides. Here the tender and comforting thought 
 is that He holds the hands of His child, companying 
 with him in blessed comradeship. It is not necessary 
 to explain so beautiful an allusion; the parental heart 
 understands it thoroughly. Whoever has felt the clasp 
 of a little hand in which there was trust and perfect 
 confidence, understands the full import of the line 
 "Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine." 
 
 A distinguished American minister used to tell with 
 deep emotion an incident which occurred when he and 
 his little seven-year-old son were taking a trip together. 
 They occupied the same seat on the train, the lad sitting 
 next to the window, his face pressed against the glass 
 watching the flying landscape ; the father next the aisle 
 reading a magazine. Suddenly without warning, the 
 train plunged into a tunnel blotting out the daylight 
 instantly. Quickly the little fellow pressed his father's 
 side, felt for his hand, and having found it, contentedly 
 held it until the tunnel was passed and the darkness 
 ended. The pith of this story is not that it is unusual 
 but that it is a touching instance of a love and trust 
 which every parent knows. 
 
 The idea of companionship is dominant in this stanza 
 and the Leader is contemplated not as going before but 
 with us and at our side. To endure as seeing Him 
 who is invisible is to walk with the Great Companion. 
 The presence of a fourth Person in the fiery furnace 
 with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is more than 
 an episode of Old Testament history. It is a Divine 
 symbol, a token of "The Comrade in White." The 
 consciousness of Divine Companionship stoutened the 
 
THE LORD'S LEADING 167 
 
 heart of Peter in prison, imparted courage to Paul in 
 the shipwreck that befell him on his voyage to Rome, 
 supplied patience to Livingstone m darkest Africa, and 
 nourished the faith of Gordon at Khartoum. Jesus is 
 here. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end 
 of the world" is the most precious promise our Lord 
 uttered. 
 
 The fourth and final stanza carries the thought of 
 the Lord's leading to the last lap of the journey. 
 
 And when my task on earth is done, 
 When by Thy grace the victory's won, 
 E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, 
 Since God through Jordan leadeth me. 
 
 There is a certain somberness in the figure with 
 which the hymn closes. Death is pictured under the 
 similitude of a river with waters swollen and cold. The 
 metaphor is a favorite with hymn writers generally, 
 and its origin is easily traced. The river Jordan was 
 the natural barrier between the children of Israel and 
 the land flowing with milk and honey. The one-time 
 popular "On Jordan's Stormy Banks" identifies the 
 Promised Land with the Heavenly Home, the river of 
 death "lying darkly between." John Bunyan in his 
 vivid description of Christian and Hopeful struggling 
 with the river and then gaining at last the shining 
 shore, has had much to do in popularizing the figure. 
 In "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" occurs the dismal 
 line "death's cold sullen stream" and in another and 
 a lesser known hymn the refrain is "No, the waters 
 will not chill me, no the waters will not chill me, when 
 I go down to die." One prefers of all the hymns of 
 this character, "Shall we gather at the river" with its 
 
168 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 tender line "the beautiful, the beautiful river." Yes, 
 "beautiful," but only so because One goeth with us 
 Who is able to breast the wave. 
 
 In the light of Christ's teaching the river of death 
 loses its terror and becomes "Such a tide as moving 
 seems asleep, too full for sound or foam." Our Great 
 Companion goes with us all the way. The author of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, avers that by the grace of 
 God, Christ tasted death for every man. He went 
 down into the grave but it was not able to hold Him. It 
 is as though He spoke to us saying, "When thou passeth 
 through the waters I will be with thee, and through 
 the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." 
 
 Thus beginning with the strong affirmation that it is 
 the Lord who leads, then vividly contrasting the chang- 
 ing scenes of this life through which the Changeless 
 Leader leads, complete dependence upon the Great 
 Companion is then acknowledged, and with a strain 
 of victory the last lap of the journey is reached with 
 the Lord still leading us into the unknown future. 
 Listen now to this hymn as it moves in majestic rhythm 
 like a noble river approaching the ocean and "turns 
 again home." 
 
 He leadeth me, O blessed thought, 
 
 O words with Heavenly comfort fraught! 
 
 What'er I do, where'er I be, 
 
 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 
 
 Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, 
 Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom, 
 By waters still, o'er troubled sea — 
 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 
 
THE LORD'S LEADING 169 
 
 Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine, 
 Nor ever murmur or repine, 
 Content, whatever lot I see. 
 Since 'tis my God that leadeth me. 
 
 And when my task on earth is done, 
 When by Thy grace the victory's won, 
 E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, 
 Since God through Jordan leadeth me. 
 
 The power of this hymn and its influence over the 
 lives of men and women could be illustrated by many 
 touching incidents. It has been the favorite hymn of 
 hosts of Christian people; it has been sung at thou- 
 sands of funeral services; it has been read by many a 
 shut-in with tear-dimmed eyes, and a great hope welling 
 in the heart. Amid the awful suffering and sorrow of 
 the Armenian massacres, this hymn brought a ministry 
 of comfort and of healing. A young woman mission- 
 ary of the American Board in Turkey, saw the depar- 
 ture of hundreds of Armenians going into exile, and 
 wrote the heart-rending description to an American 
 friend. The poor persecuted Armenians were going 
 to their death and they knew it. They could have 
 purchased prolongation of life and freedom if they 
 had denied their Lord; but that they never considered 
 for a moment. The scene of their deportation was 
 melting in the extreme, yet the poor tortured and loyal 
 souls praised God and glorified the name of His Son.. 
 Tears streamed down the faces of the men and women 
 who were giving up their all for their faith. They 
 clasped the hands of the Missionaries and prayed and 
 wept over them. They all met in one final service of 
 prayer and reading of the Scriptures, and at its close 
 they raised their voices in the hymn "He Leadeth Me," 
 
170 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 and from the singing of these words went out and on to 
 death and glory. 
 
 "He Leadeth Me" is precious to me because it was 
 the favorite of a beloved kinsman to whom I owe an 
 unpayable debt. My dear kinsman was not a musician 
 and his singing voice was not strong, but he was a 
 sincere and loyal Christian and he loved the great 
 hymns of the church. At service on Lord's day morn- 
 ing this was one of the few hymns in which he in- 
 variably joined. He was particularly fond of the 
 chorus. As he went about his work he loved to sing 
 this hymn softly and over and over again. Sometimes 
 he sang it in the summer twilight sitting under the 
 trees in front of the house, at peace with God and man. 
 Sometimes he sang the first stanza and the chorus in 
 the sitting-room when the long winter nights were on 
 and the anthracite stove glowed like a ball of fire. 
 There are times when I fancy I can still hear him 
 singing the chorus of "He Leadeth Me"; singing it 
 soft and low ; singing it out of an unshaken faith and 
 a hope which anchored his soul within the Veil ; sing- 
 ing it now in a nobler, sweeter strain, amidst the glory 
 of the Father's Home and those loved long since and 
 lost a while. 
 
 He leadeth me, He leadeth me; 
 By His own hand He leadeth me ; 
 His faithful follower I would be, 
 For by His hand He leadeth me. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 
 The Nature of Jesus' Peace, and How and Why It 
 Differs from the World's Peace 
 
John 16:33. 
 
 These things have I spoken unto you, that 
 in Me ye may have peace. In the world ye 
 have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have 
 overcome the world. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 
 
 Was there ever a stranger peace conference than that 
 one of the upper room in Jerusalem nineteen centuries 
 ago? How far removed and how different this assem- 
 bly from those famous peace conferences where the 
 victors in battle have dictated terms to the conquered 
 foe. Such councils have usually met in palatial rooms 
 flanked by the spectacle of earthly power and glory. 
 Pomp and pageantry have always been in evidence 
 when nations have assumed the role of peace-making. 
 How difficult it is for peace to emerge from an atmos- 
 phere of war. Fuss and feathers smother; sword and 
 saber intimidate; the kingdom of peace cometh not by 
 violence. 
 
 Gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem was a 
 group of men, plain, simple men, and with them their 
 Teacher, Companion and Friend met together for the 
 last time ere the great storm broke. The shadows were 
 long and deep in that room, and they fell darkly across 
 the little company who for nearly three years had been 
 partakers of a great privilege. These men were anx- 
 ious now and nervous. They were filled with appre- 
 hension of impending peril. The signs and tokens 
 were ominous; a tragedy seemed confronting them, but 
 just when and how and where, they knew not. Yet 
 173 
 
174. WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 there was one in that room upon whom no shadow fell. 
 He was calm, clear-eyed, composed and serene. He 
 sat there talking with His friends, simply, tenderly, 
 intimately. Surely no man ever spoke as Jesus spoke 
 that night in the upper room. Such a conversation 
 there never was before or since, and toward its close 
 Jesus said: "These things have I spoken unto you that 
 in Me you might have peace." 
 
 What things? Why the great utterances that had 
 preceded this statement. They are many of them and 
 they distinguish His conversation that last night as 
 stars of the first magnitude distinguish the Heavens. 
 Listen to the music of these words : 
 
 Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, be- 
 lieve also in Me. In my Father's house are many man- 
 sions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I 
 go to prepare a place for you. 
 
 Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not 
 know me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me hath seen the 
 Father. 
 
 Ye are my friends, if you do the things which I com- 
 mand you. 
 
 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask 
 whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. 
 
 This is my commandment, that you love one another, 
 even as I have loved you. 
 
 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; 
 not as the world giveth, give I unto you. 
 
 JESUS' PEACE IS INWARD REST 
 
 Jesus' phrase "My peace" is distinctly interesting 
 and thought-inciting. What is the peace which He 
 
THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 
 
 175 
 
 intimates is unlike the peace the world gives? I 
 daresay that most of us are mistaken as to the nature 
 of Jesus' peace. When we think of His peaceful life, 
 is it to dream that His days and years were such, say, 
 as the poet Wordsworth spent in the lovely lake region 
 of England, quietly, serenely? If we have so thought 
 we are in error. Nothing could be farther from the 
 truth. For at least three years, the years of His public 
 ministry, Jesus lived amidst untoward conditions and 
 in almost constant controversy and opposition. He 
 was subject to numerous disturbing and disagreeable 
 experiences. His own family were unsympathetic with 
 His mission. His kinsmen made His work more diffi- 
 cult and were critical of much that He said and did. 
 He was never free from the inconveniences of poverty. 
 After His public ministry began, He seems never to 
 have known the comforts of a home which He might 
 call His own and to which He might retire for rest and 
 reflection. His oft-quoted words — "The foxes have 
 holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son 
 of Man has not where to lay His head" — were not 
 poetry or rhetorical figure, but soberest truth. The 
 leading Churchmen of His day, who should have been 
 His friends and supporters, were His bitterest enemies. 
 They regarded Him as a heretic, an impostor, and a 
 dangerous fellow-countryman. His was the heart- 
 breaking experience to have the good that He did 
 attributed to the power of evil. His chosen disciples 
 gave Him a great deal of trouble, often disappointed 
 Him, sometimes embarrassed Him and made His 
 rugged way more rugged still. 
 
 Yet, despite the annoyances, the turmoil, and the 
 
176 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 strife in which Jesus lived, the peace that passeth all 
 understanding reigned in His heart. However turbu- 
 lent His surroundings, inwardly He was at repose. It 
 was Jesus' inner peace that made Him conqueror of 
 outward unrest. He lived in harmony with the 
 Father's will, and His conscience was as untroubled as 
 the placid surface of a mountain lake when the wind 
 has died down and a calm settles over all. No mem- 
 ories of a misspent youth rose up to haunt Him, no 
 feeling of remorse or sorrow of sin darkened the mir- 
 ror of His spotless life. Thus He moved amidst the 
 distractions, the disappointments, the conflicts and 
 controversies of His day, calm, serene, self-possessed, 
 at peace with God. The peace of Jesus, therefore, was 
 an inward experience, not an outward environment, 
 certainly not freedom from the burdens of life. The 
 way He took was often painful, but His walk was one 
 whose steps were in perfect alignment with the will of 
 the Heavenly Father. 
 
 THE WORLD'S PEACE IS OUTWARD CALM 
 
 The world in general regards peace as an end, rather 
 than a means. It conceives peace to be the cessation of 
 war, stoppage of conflict, restoration of law and order. 
 This is desirable, to be sure, but the bitter truth is that 
 real peace is not attainable by mere outward adjust- 
 ment. Moreover, peace, enduring peace, is not only 
 the ending of one order that has been weighed in the 
 balance and found wanting, it is the beginning of a 
 new and better order in which justice, righteousness 
 and brotherhood are to prevail. Alas! it is only too 
 true that we are all to a greater or lesser degree affected 
 
THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 
 
 177 
 
 with the worldly idea of peace. We stress outward 
 things, and look for the coming of the Kingdom 
 through exterior processes. The world as yet has 
 failed to make a lasting peace. Time and time again 
 great peace councils have, by the very terms of peace 
 the victor sought to impose, sown the seeds of future 
 wars. 
 
 Great Captains with their guns and drums, 
 Disturb our judgment for the hour. 
 But at last silence comes — 
 
 Yes, silence comes, and just about the time when 
 sober reflection and careful judgment is replacing the 
 fever and excitement of war, great captains with their 
 guns and drums disturb our judgment again; — disturb 
 it with the roar of cannon and the loosing of the dogs 
 of war upon a helpless society. The world professes 
 to love peace, brotherhood and justice, but conquerors 
 and victors are quick to make sure that the balance of 
 power is on their side, and that armies and navies big 
 enough to keep the peace are in training and ready for 
 action. 
 
 Few of us are free from the opinion that outside 
 favorable conditions are able to produce of themselves 
 inward repose. We think, for instance, that the pos- 
 session of sufficient wealth to protect us from the an- 
 noyances and anxieties attendant on meager incomes 
 and heavy outlays would produce a peace, where now 
 there is only distraction and anxiety. That it might 
 help accomplish this is freely granted, that society as a 
 whole ought to be protected from the fear of poverty 
 as well as the handicap of it is likewise granted. Yet, 
 even so, the most generous provisions, the most ample 
 
178 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 safeguarding of this kind cannot of itself produce 
 inward calm. There are many living amid physical 
 conditions that are favorable to rest, recreation and 
 wide travel who are inwardly in a constant state of 
 turbulency, turmoil, and strife. Tribulations, however, 
 of one kind or another await the sons of men every- 
 where, and wait us despite wealth, genius, and even 
 godly living. These tribulations are inescapable, but 
 they are conquerable. Jesus overcame them, and the 
 same power that enabled Him to overcome, He assures 
 us, will enable us to overcome. It is the inner peace 
 that counts. Given the inner peace and the ideals and 
 teachings of Jesus, and the result is a peace such as 
 the world cannot give because the world has it not. 
 
 Why is it that society is slow to accept Christ's 
 peace? Why is it that individuals are prone to turn 
 elsewhere for power, only to meet disappointment? 
 Is it because we do not understand the nature of His 
 peace? Possibly. But a better explanation is that we 
 are not willing to receive His peace on the simple terms 
 He offers it. It is not true that the peace of God is 
 given without conditions, even though it be freely given 
 and given to all men. "These things have I spoken that 
 in me you might have peace." Ah, yes, the things 
 spoken in that conversation at the table, we must not 
 forget them. They are all-important, they are funda- 
 mental. Summarized, these things are as follows — 
 "Abide in Me." Let "My words abide in you." "Love 
 one another even as I have loved you." "Keep My 
 commandments." "Bear much fruit." "Bear wit- 
 ness." "Ask and ye shall receive." "I have given you 
 an example that you should do as I have done to you." 
 
THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 179 
 
 "Be of good cheer." The peace of Jesus Christ is an 
 inward rest, but it is more, it is a way of life in which 
 love, justice, mercy, forgiveness, find radiant demon- 
 stration. 
 
 "When he called upon men to follow him, to share 
 his baptism and drink his cup," says W. E. Orchard, 
 "He was not mocking them with impossible ideals. 
 He was asking them to be as he was, to live for the 
 same ends, to undertake the same task. Jesus invited 
 men to his ethical and spiritual level. The blunting of 
 this call by the declaration that Jesus can never be 
 followed by mortal men is responsible for the low state 
 of Christian discipleship." 
 
 Candor compels the admission that the world's idea 
 of peace is still influential in the churches. Here too, 
 the emphasis is largely on outward conformity, the de- 
 pendence on ecclesiastical and doctrinal regularity. 
 These have been only too often the weapons of 
 Christendom to enforce uniformity and promote ap- 
 pearance of solidarity. The various denominations, 
 after the fashion of nations, have their "war parties," 
 their "jingoes" and "dollar diplomacy." These power- 
 ful elements are intent on preserving traditional ideas 
 and time-worn methods, by recourse to sectarian arma- 
 ment and threat of excommunication or brand of 
 heresy and stigma of unorthodoxy. Thus has the 
 cause of Jesus' peace been betrayed oft-times in the 
 house of the Master. Sectarian disarmament must 
 take place among the denominations before the Church 
 can ever have an influential voice and great prestige 
 in the Peace Councils of the world. 
 
180 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 JESUS BESTOWS HIS PEACE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE 
 WORLD 
 
 The world is partial, prejudiced and class-conscious 
 in its gift of peace. It exalts some by pulling down 
 others. It enriches a few by impoverishing many. 
 Jesus gives His peace to all who will accept Him. He 
 draws no circles, builds no walls, makes no limitations 
 as to caste, color, or character. His gracious invita- 
 tion to peace, power and plenty is inclusive and all- 
 encompassing. "Come unto Me all ye that labor and 
 are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my 
 yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and 
 lowly of heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls, 
 for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
 
 Jesus' gift of peace is Himself. He had nothing to 
 give the world save Himself, and greater gift than 
 self no one can give. The world balks at giving self, 
 it bestows favors, offices, emoluments. Jesus gave 
 Himself in His death on the cross. Dying there amid 
 darkness and degradation He made peace, individual 
 peace, possible for the least and lowliest of earth. 
 There are many theories of the atonement, and follow- 
 ers of Christ will never be agreed upon any one of 
 these theories, but the glorious fact of the atonement 
 is not disputable or under debate or question. Says 
 St. Paul — "He is our peace." By His death there on 
 that central cross Jesus led the way for enduring peace, 
 not only between God and man, but between man and 
 man. The peace councils of the world have not yet 
 learned the way of the cross. Their way is still the 
 
THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 181 
 
 way of the sword and that is the way of death and 
 darkness and suffering. 
 
 Jesus' gift of Himself is also in life, the life of His 
 free and victorious Spirit through which He abides in 
 every heart which accords Him room. Most gifts 
 lose sooner or later their power to thrill, to interest, 
 to please, but not so this gift of Christ given freely to 
 everyone who will receive Him. Whoso possesses the 
 world's peace will thirst again, but whoso possesses the 
 peace of Christ will never know the necessity for any- 
 thing better or more satisfying. His is the peace that 
 passes all understanding because of its exquisitely fine 
 quality, its lastingness and satisfying nature. 
 
 How impoverished the centuries would be if there 
 were taken from them the lives of many humble and 
 lowly who were filled with the peace of Jesus Christ. 
 As for the mighty men who led in world-movements 
 and helped to change the course of history for the 
 better, Christ's peace ruled their lives. St. Paul knew 
 that peace and it enabled him to establish the Christian 
 faith in hostile communities, testify before kings and 
 queens, and face lion-heartedly brutal mobs bent on 
 putting him to death. Martin Luther knew this peace 
 of Christ and amidst the wildest storms of controversy 
 he stood undaunted and persevering in his mighty 
 tasks. Abraham Lincoln possessed this peace and it 
 taught him patience and kept him calm and sweet when 
 rancor and contumely swirled around him as furious 
 floods swirl around a massive pier. 
 
 Oh, ye hosts who know only the world's peace ! Go 
 get ye to the upper room and there learn the peace that 
 is pure, just and holy — the peace that Christ gives to 
 
182 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 all; the peace for which a war-scourged world waits. 
 For without His peace all plans and programs of dis- 
 armament will be but as some fair dream which van- 
 ishes with the morning and cannot be recalled. 
 
XIV 
 
 OTHER SHEEP 
 
 An Attempt to Appraise the Scattered Flock of God 
 at Their Value in the Good Shepherd's Sight 
 
John 10:16. 
 
 Other sheep I have, which are not of this 
 fold: them also I must bring, and they shall 
 hear my voice; and they shall become one 
 flock, one shepherd. 
 
XIV 
 
 OTHER SHEEP 
 
 If one were to take a pen and designate with a tiny 
 star every reference in the Holy Scriptures to sheep 
 and shepherds, the result would be an "inky way" 
 from Genesis to Revelation ; with the stars most multi- 
 tudinous in portions of the Psalms, parts of the 
 Prophecies, and throughout the Gospels. The land of 
 the Bible is the shepherd's own country where he lives 
 with his flock, knows them by name, protects them, 
 sustains them, and defends them from their natural 
 enemies. One of the favorite names of the Old Testa- 
 ment is Rachel, which means "ewe," and the phrase 
 "Shepherd of Israel" as applied to Jehovah is exquisite 
 poetry. The Shepherd's Psalm is a most appropriate 
 name for the twenty-third Psalm and the pastoral scene 
 it pictures is enchanting: the green pastures, the still 
 waters, the valley of the shadow, the rod and the staff, 
 the overflowing cup, the safety and comfort of the 
 fold, who can forget the strength and beauty of such 
 imagery ? 
 
 Jesus was fond of this Shepherd figure and some of 
 his notable parables are interwoven with pastoral 
 imagery. It is an interesting fact, and not without its 
 pathos, that as the shadows of the end fell upon His 
 disciples, the Old Testament figure of the sheep of 
 185 
 
186 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 God's pasture was often in His mind and on His lips. 
 Thus, He comforted His disciples with the words, 
 "Fear not little flock," and in the time of imminent peril 
 in the last winter of His life He spoke the words which 
 John has recorded for us in the tenth chapter of his 
 Gospel. Throughout the eighteen verses Jesus varies 
 the figure and enforces it in several ways. He speaks 
 of Himself as the Good Shepherd and His followers 
 as His sheep. He requires of them obedience and 
 trust ; He promises that no one shall snatch them from 
 out His hands. He makes it His concern to know them 
 and to know the Father. From the thought of the 
 sheep He passes to that of the sheepfold, of which He 
 said He Himself is the door, and from the fold He pro- 
 ceeds to describe the flock with the one shepherd. 
 "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them 
 also I must bring, they shall hear my voice; and they 
 shall become one flock, one shepherd." 
 
 "OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD*' 
 
 This utterance of Jesus must have startled His hear- 
 ers. "This fold" is of course the Jewish faith, and to 
 the zealous Jew all others were outside the fold. It is 
 difficult for us to understand the intense and bitter 
 prejudice of the Jews of Jesus' day toward all others 
 of alien faith and race. In their eyes all who were not 
 children of Abraham were "Gentiles," "Heathen," 
 "dogs," and "wolves." They believed themselves to 
 be the especial objects of God's favor and the only ones 
 who were to be the beneficiaries of His love and for- 
 giveness. So extreme and fanatical were some of the 
 Pharisaical groups that such a sentiment as this has 
 
OTHER SHEEP 
 
 187 
 
 come down to us : "The spittle of a Jew is more 
 precious in the sight of Jehovah than the life blood of 
 a heathen." Prejudice shut out from Israel all foreign 
 culture; no one could hope for eternal life who read the 
 books of other nations. 
 
 We stand aghast at such bigotry and yet withal there 
 is not a religious body anywhere without some adher- 
 ents who believe themselves to be the elect of God, and 
 all others outside the true fold. It were well if we 
 possessed a sense of humor and could see how very 
 ludicrous some of our prejudices are. John B. Gough 
 used to delight to tell a story of a minister who was 
 preaching in Boston when he saw the Governor of the 
 state coming up the aisle. Immediately he began to 
 stammer and finally said : "I see the Governor coming 
 in and I know you will want to hear an exhortation 
 from him and I think I had better stop." Whereupon 
 one of the old officials leaped up from a front seat and 
 said, "I insist upon your going on with your sermon, 
 Sir, you ought not to be embarrassed by the Governor's 
 coming in. We are all worms ! All worms ! Nothing 
 but worms!" This interruption stirred the minister 
 deeply and he replied heatedly, "Sir, I would have you 
 to understand that there is a difference in worms." 
 Yes, the difference — always the difference between peo- 
 ple, races, religions — the difference, — ah, that's the 
 rub! Why stress the difference? 
 
 If we are to be Christian we shall have to get away 
 from the belief that "the only good Indian is a dead 
 Indian"; that the only real white man is the Anglo- 
 Saxon; that "the negro is a beast"; that the Japanese 
 are all dishonest; that the Chinese are "a yellow peril" ; 
 
188 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 that the Jew is conspiring to dominate the world and 
 lord it over all. If the Jew's prejudice toward the 
 Christian has been bitter and long-standing, then so 
 has the prejudice of the Gentile toward the Jew been 
 terrible in intensity and almost unaccountable in per- 
 sistence. Only recently the Jew has been the object of 
 a new outburst of fury ; the controversy waxes hot and 
 the ancient feud continues. Racial pride and arrogance 
 is widespread and deep-rooted. We Americans of all 
 people should be able to take a broad and charitable 
 attitude toward peoples of alien birth, but alas, preju- 
 dice toward the "foreigner" in America is not the ex- 
 ception but the general rule. The eccentricities of 
 genius of whatever race dispose us to be tolerant, even 
 indulgent, but the same traits in a peddler, an organ 
 grinder, or proprietor of a fruit stand, move us to fresh 
 diatribes against the Italian, the Greek, the Pole. We 
 need to take to heart the admonition of Professor 
 Steiner: "Don't let one smell of garlic put a whole 
 army of Christians to flight." 
 
 "Other sheep . . . not of this fold." That is to 
 say, Jesus has sheep not in the recognized fold. In- 
 terpreting this statement in the light of His ministry, 
 it can only mean that all who seek after God and walk 
 in such light as they have are His sheep, and eventually 
 He will bring them all to Himself. When it became 
 known to Peter that the Gentiles were included in the 
 gracious invitation of Christ, he said, "Of the truth I 
 perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in 
 every nation he that feareth Him and worketh right- 
 eousness is acceptable to Him." Moreover, Paul, in 
 Romans 3 -.14, affirms that those, not having the law 
 
OTHER SHEEP 
 
 189 
 
 are a law unto themselves. "Other sheep!" — How 
 these words so true, so mellow of spirit, ought to 
 enlarge the horizon of our souls. The field is the 
 world. All the tribes, tongues and peoples come within 
 the scope of God's great love. He taught us not to 
 think meanly of any man or woman, whether black or 
 white or yellow, and of whatever social stratum. He 
 taught us to look out upon the masses of humanity as 
 objects of God's love and of the ministrations of all 
 those who have accepted the Christ. 
 
 There's a wideness in God's mercy, 
 
 Like the wideness of the sea; 
 There's a kindness in his justice, 
 
 Which is more than liberty. 
 
 For the love of God is broader 
 Than the measure of man's mind; 
 
 And the heart of the Eternal 
 Is most wonderfully kind. 
 
 "THEM ALSO I MUST BRING, AND THEY SHALL HEAR 
 MY VOICE" 
 
 It is the will of our Lord that His other sheep which 
 are not of the fold be brought to Him, that they may 
 hear His voice and own His shepherdship. The 
 method of the bringing of Christ's other sheep is of 
 the utmost importance. When Jesus spoke these 
 words, the thought of the approaching cross must have 
 been in His mind. Aye, that Cross would be the means 
 of bringing hosts upon hosts to know the Good Shep- 
 herd and to follow whithersoever He should lead. In 
 the twelfth chapter of John's Gospel it is recorded 
 that certain Greeks sought out Philip and asked him, 
 
190 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus." When this request 
 was made known to the Master He was profoundly- 
 moved ; perhaps He saw in that request the first fruits 
 of the coming of all nationalities to own Him Lord of 
 Lords and King of Kings. Then it was that He 
 uttered that notable prediction: "And I, if I be lifted 
 up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself." 
 
 The "other sheep" are to be brought unto the shep- 
 herd by human instrumentalities. This is the Divine 
 plan. Obedience to this command converts the church 
 into a missionary enterprise. Jesus first sent out the 
 twelve disciples; then the seventy; and just before His 
 Ascension He gave the church its great commission, 
 saying, "Go, teach all nations." The very charter of 
 the church is its commission to make other disciples. 
 The book of Acts is full of power and glory and ex- 
 traordinary triumphs because it is a record of the early 
 church at work carrying out the commission. If 
 Christendom had kept this great goal in view and 
 regarded the church as a means, not as an end, — in 
 place of the denominational rivalries, senseless con- 
 troversies, and costly competitions, — this great mission- 
 ary spirit would have swept over the peoples of other 
 nations with power and wonder and saving grace, and 
 the great World War would have been an impossibility. 
 
 "Other sheep." Does this obligation rest lightly or 
 heavily upon the churches ? Truth compels the answer 
 that a host are not conscious of such an obligation. 
 For it is to the churches that we must look, both for 
 the material resources and the dedicated life, and in 
 both instances the supply is meager. The great body 
 of Christians give about thirty-two cents a year per 
 
OTHER SHEEP 
 
 191 
 
 capita for the bringing of these other sheep to know 
 the Good Shepherd. Young men for the ministry are 
 difficult to find, the most capable young manhood of 
 our churches is answering the call of the commercial 
 world and not of the mission field or definite Christian 
 leadership. There are great churches in America with 
 memberships running into the thousands, worshiping 
 in magnificent temples, who have not given to the min- 
 istry or the mission field a young man or woman for 
 many a year. Somehow this obligation of other sheep 
 does not rest upon us as it rested upon Jesus. He 
 wept over Jerusalem ; not many Christians are weeping 
 over New York, Chicago or Detroit. He looked out 
 over the multitude and was moved with compassion. 
 We, His twentieth century disciples, are prone to look 
 on the multitude with derision, sometimes with con- 
 tempt, often with a kind of a blase indifference. Jesus 
 detected the faintest flicker of faith in some poor out- 
 cast and observed it with joy; we are often scornful 
 of those of feeble faith, and inclined to doubt their 
 sincerity and deem them doomed to failure. 
 
 Jesus' other sheep are everywhere, and among all 
 peoples and all ranks of society. These He must bring 
 and He must bring them through His disciples; unless 
 they are brought that way they may not come at all. 
 Given a follower of Christ who has caught the great 
 vision and bears the love of God in his heart for all 
 peoples, who cannot rest until he has done all he can 
 to make these people know the new life in Jesus Christ, 
 and such a person plus the Divine Spirit becomes im- 
 measurably a power for God and man. 
 
192 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 "and they shall become one flock, one 
 shepherd" 
 
 It is worth remarking that the Revised Version 
 translates not "one fold" but "one flock." Why the 
 change? Professor Alfred Plummer, the distinguished 
 English scholar, says of this change: "Few corrections 
 made in the Revised Version are more important than 
 this. The mistake originated in Jerome's translation, 
 where we have the same Latin word to represent two 
 different Greek words. Wyclif followed him; and, 
 although Tyndale and Coverdale corrected the error, 
 the Authorized Version unfortunately followed Wyclif. 
 Christ says nothing about there being one fold, which 
 would imply uniformity: what He promises, and en- 
 courages us to work for and to pray for, is "one flock," 
 in which there may be large measures of diversity along 
 with the essential unity belonging to one and the same 
 Shepherd. 
 
 "It is impossible to estimate the mischief that has 
 been done by this unhappy substitution of 'fold' for 
 'flock' in this important text. Throughout the 
 Middle Ages, few people in Western Europe knew 
 Greek, and Jerome's Vulgate led them to believe 
 that Christ had used the word 'fold' in both places, 
 and that He had inculcated a doctrine, which the 
 change of word was perhaps intended to exclude. 
 The doctrine, that the sheep not in the fold must be 
 brought in until there is one fold, with all the sheep 
 penned within it, gave immense support to the 
 claims of the Roman Catholic Church to be the one 
 
OTHER SHEEP 
 
 193 
 
 church, outside which there is no salvation. What 
 Christ says is that those outside the then existing 
 fold, equally with those who were in the fold, shall 
 become one flock, of which He is the Shepherd. 
 Christ had come to break down 'the wall of par- 
 tition' between the Jewish Church and the Gentiles. 
 In the gospel, the distinction between Jew and Gen- 
 tile was to cease, and the salvation which had been 
 offered first to the Jew, became the common in- 
 heritance of all." 
 
 For hundreds of years divisions among Christians 
 has been a thing of scandal. In England there are 
 about two hundred and eighty kinds of Christians; in 
 America around one hundred and fifty. There are 
 seventeen branches of the Methodist family, twenty- 
 two of the Lutherans, eight of the Catholic, thirteen 
 of the Baptist, twelve of the Presbyterian and six of 
 the Adventist The effect of such divisions upon the 
 mind of the people is at its best confusing, and at its 
 worst demoralizing. The first great stride toward the 
 reunion of Christendom is a united Protestantism. 
 The Evangelical churches have much in common. 
 Their agreements are vastly more than their differ- 
 ences. Protestantism is virtually one in its conception 
 of God and of its revelation in Jesus Christ; in the 
 power and reign of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the 
 leaders; in the nature and mission of the church; in 
 the place and potency of the Holy Scripture; in the 
 necessity of the new birth and the power of an endless 
 life. The things that divide Protestantism are the 
 lesser and unimportant matters. For the greater part 
 
194 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 they are accretions of human devise, nonessential and 
 divisive. Too long have the differences among Protes- 
 tants been magnified .and the agreements minimized. 
 The hour is fully here to reverse this order, to minimize 
 the differences .and magnify the agreements. 
 
 Protestantism has something to learn from Catholic- 
 ism. Among Catholics there is little duplication of 
 churches, no overlapping of work, no competition be- 
 tween the churches. In Protestantism there is a serious 
 duplication, frequent competition and much over- 
 lapping, — the result is a waste of energy, a duplication 
 of activity, and misuse of vast sums of money. 
 
 It was my pleasure once to preach in a union meet- 
 ing in a community where the churches are strong and 
 vigorous. Four congregations united and for two 
 weeks we were one flock, and one shepherd. Protes- 
 tantism was united in that community. Methodists, 
 United Brethren, Presbyterians, and Disciples entered 
 into blessed oneness of worship and interest. On the 
 last Sunday afternoon of the meetings all united in 
 an observance of the Lord's Supper. It was impres- 
 sive, inspiring, and unific. The comment of a gentle- 
 man of a religious body other than my own is inter- 
 esting. Said he, "I've been thinking that if it is 
 possible for our four churches to be united for two 
 weeks like this, it is possible — if not now, some day — 
 to be united in this close way all the time." And this 
 is what many are thinking these days. But we will not 
 be able to make this great stride toward a united 
 Protestantism until we manifest the spirit and view of 
 Jesus in this passage, "Other sheep I have which are 
 not of this fold." Conscientious seekers after God in 
 
OTHER SHEEP 195 
 
 this and other lands, whatever may be their degree of 
 enlightenment or denominational barriers, are included 
 in this Godlike affirmation. 
 
 Soon shall the slumbering Morn awake 
 From wandering Stars of Error freed, 
 
 When Christ the Bread of heaven shall break 
 For saints that own a common creed. 
 
 The walls that fence his flock apart 
 
 Shall crack and crumble in decay, 
 And every tongue and every heart 
 
 Shall welcome in the new born day. 
 
 Then shall his glorious church rejoice 
 
 His word of promise to recall — 
 One sheltering fold, one Shepherd's voice, 
 
 One God and Father over all! 
 
 Let us hope and pray that the poet's dream may be 
 realized, that the Master's prayer be answered — and 
 more; let us devote ourselves to this unfinished pro- 
 gram of Jesus with a zeal that shall amount to a holy 
 passion. 
 
XV 
 
 WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 
 
 Never-To-Be-Forgotten Day in the Lives of Four 
 Fishermen 
 
Luke 5:1-11. 
 
 Now it came to pass, while the multitude 
 pressed upon Him and heard the word of God, 
 that He was standing by the lake of Gen- 
 nesaret; and He saw two boats standing by 
 the lake : but the fishermen had gone out of 
 them, and were washing their nets. And He 
 entered into one of the boats, which was Si- 
 mon's, and asked him to put out a little from 
 the land. And He sat down and taught the 
 multitudes out of the boat. And when He had 
 left speaking, He said unto Simon, Put out 
 into the deep, and let down your nets for a 
 draught. And Simon answered and said: 
 Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: 
 but at Thy word I will let down the nets. 
 And when they had done this, they inclosed 
 a great multitude of fishes; and their nets 
 were breaking, and they beckoned unto their 
 partners in the other boat, that they should 
 come and help them. And they came, and 
 filled both the boats, so that they began to 
 sink. But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell 
 down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from 
 me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For 
 he was amazed, and all that were with him, at 
 the draught of the fishes which they had 
 taken; and so were also James and John, sons 
 of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. 
 And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from 
 henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when 
 they had brought their boats to land, they 
 left all, and followed Him. 
 
XV 
 
 WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 
 
 It was a never-to-be-forgotten day in the lives of 
 four fishermen. The scene is the shore of the Sea of 
 Galilee in the early morning. Two boats are drawn 
 up on the beach, and nearby the fisher- folk are busy 
 washing their nets. All night they have toiled, and 
 not a single fish did they catch. Now it is morning, 
 and all that the men have to show for their night's 
 work are the empty and bedraggled nets, their weary 
 bodies and heavy eyelids. 
 
 Does such a scene have any particular meaning for 
 us? Have we anything in common with those fisher- 
 men on the shores of Galilee that morning nineteen 
 centuries ago? I venture to say, much in every way. 
 The incident is eloquent with the token that failure 
 may result, despite our best efforts; that patience, 
 industry and skill do not and cannot invariably bring 
 success. Those Galilean fishermen were not amateurs; 
 they knew that the night was the best time for fishing; 
 they were familiar with the parts of the lake where fish 
 were most likely to be; they knew how to cast their 
 nets skillfully and draw in their catch warily. Yet 
 withal, their night's toil had been in vain. 
 
 Thus it is with men and women everywhere, and 
 quite apart from degree of culture, rank or possession. 
 199 
 
200 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 We are of the same clay as those Galilean fishermen. 
 We too must know what it is to invest our all and 
 apparently fail. Toil, patience, skill, we freely give, 
 and apparently without results. It is the lot of the 
 teacher, the parent, the merchant, the tradesman, the 
 farmer, to met the baffling fact that futility sometimes 
 rewards their best laid plans. It is indeed this very 
 experience that tests the metal of manhood and runs 
 a dividing line between the faint-hearted and the 
 dauntless. 
 
 JESUS CONVERTS SIMON'S BOAT INTO A PULPIT 
 
 Thus it happened that while the fishermen were 
 washing their nets, Jesus, accompanied by a throng, 
 came that way. Much of His ministry was along the 
 shores of Galilee, and a goodly part of it took place 
 on that famed little lake. As usual the people clamored 
 to hear Him, the throng pressed Him sorely. To 
 escape the crush, He stepped into Simon Peter's boat, 
 and having asked that the owner push out a little way 
 from the land, sat down in the boat, and from that 
 pulpit taught the people. When one gets thus far into 
 the narrative he comes face to face with the great law 
 of Christian service namely — The stewardship of life. 
 Whatever we yield to God, He will use, whether it be 
 small or great. Whatever we withhold from Him, 
 however vast in potentialities, God cannot use. Our 
 usefulness depends then, not upon what we possess, 
 but what we surrender to the Christ of our souls. 
 
 There is no dearth of talented people in the world; 
 brilliant folks are plentiful; but there is a woeful lack 
 
WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 201 
 
 of men and women who have laid their all, much or 
 little, upon the high altar of service. Was it not Mr. 
 Moody, who when criticized by a cultured gentleman 
 for his ungrammatical English, pointedly retorted: 
 "Very well, what definite Christian use are you mak- 
 ing of your faultless diction?" Precisely that is the 
 test for us, everyone. Not what we have, but what 
 use we make of our attainments ; — that is the question. 
 A house, an automobile, a good singing voice, a talent 
 for public speaking, an interesting and entertaining 
 way with children, an engaging and influential person- 
 ality — all of these dedicated to Christian ideals and the 
 progress of the Kingdom of God will yield abundant 
 fruits, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred- 
 fold. Jesus used Peter's boat, and His Spirit today 
 will employ with uncommon fruitfulness, every pos- 
 session, every talent yielded unto Him. Blessed is he 
 who, perceiving the Divine presence, exclaims : "Take ! 
 FiU! Use!" 
 
 There are strange ways of serving God; 
 
 You sweep a room or turn a sod, 
 
 And suddenly, to your surprise, 
 
 You hear the whirr of seraphim 
 
 And find you're under God's own eyes 
 
 And building palaces for Him. 
 
 DEEP CALEETH UNTO DEEP 
 
 The teaching at an end, Jesus turns to Simon Peter. 
 "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a 
 draught," he commands. How splendid the spirit; 
 how stimulating the force of the words, — "Put out 
 into the deep." There is a tang in the thought Let 
 us be honest; we are prone to hug the shore. We 
 
202 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 prefer the "safety-first" method. We like much to 
 dilly-dally amidst the shallows and the shoals. Espe- 
 cially are we so minded after one experience on the 
 deep where naught but failure was our lot. Ah, we 
 know, we know ! We undertook with fear and 
 trembling an enterprise that called for courage and 
 persistence. We failed, and with that failure our ardor 
 was completely cooled. We agreed, for instance, to 
 take a class of young men and instruct them in the 
 Holy Scriptures. It was a big undertaking, but we 
 plunged in and struggled bravely. We gave what we 
 believed to be our best and we failed. We could not 
 interest the young men. We seemed unable to grapple 
 with the big problem. We felt powerless in our defeat. 
 We came away from that failure with our minds fully 
 made up. We said to ourselves — and at the time we 
 meant it — "Never again will we undertake anything 
 of that kind." We preferred the shallows rather than 
 the deep. We chose the shore with which we were 
 fairly familiar, rather than the great deep which we 
 did not know; and then right on the heels of such a 
 resolution came the challenge to continue with that 
 group of young men and to give ourselves with re- 
 newed vigor to the mastery of the undertaking. "Put 
 out into the deep and let down your nets for a 
 draught." Risky? Certainly. Dangerous? Possibly 
 so; but likewise rich in possibilities. There is nothing 
 to be caught along the shore, but far out in the deep 
 the prizes of life are awaiting the coming of the ven- 
 turesome and the brave. 
 
 God is constantly calling us to put out into the deep, 
 and this call to our souls is as deep calling unto deep. 
 
WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 203 
 
 Here are the Holy Scriptures. When it comes to 
 constant and diligent study of their great contents, for 
 the greater part we have not put out into the deep. 
 Our knowledge of the Bible is small and largely sur- 
 face. It is the Book everybody praises and few read. 
 We can quote John 14 : 1-6, Romans 8 : 28, the twenty- 
 third Psalm, and the Beatitudes ; but there are mountain 
 peaks we have not ascended, and great unexplored 
 areas of Scriptural truth. We need to put out into 
 the deep of these old and time-tested writings. God 
 challenges us to search the Scriptures diligently; to 
 read whole books at a single sitting ; to compare Scrip- 
 ture with Scripture; to commit many a passage to 
 memory. Most of us believe in prayer, but only a few 
 are acquainted with the real heart of communion with 
 the Heavenly Father. We have been accustomed to 
 "say prayers" and to pray occasionally when the need 
 seemed to be especially urgent ; but only here and there 
 are those who are able to say with Jacob in the in- 
 tensity of his struggle with the mysterious wrestler, 
 "I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me." Oh! 
 we are all under the domination of the shore and the 
 shallows, where it is smooth sailing and commonplace. 
 Put out, O! slow of heart, and sluggish of spirit; put 
 out, where the waters are of unplumbed depth, "too 
 full for sound or foam!" 
 
 CHRIST THE COMMANDER 
 
 Simon Peter's answer is wistful, and it is also the 
 soul of loyalty. "Master," he replied, "we toiled all 
 night and took nothing; but at Thy word I will let 
 down the net." Now, there is vastly more in these 
 
204 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 words than a careless reader will see. Simon Peter 
 was a fisherman and a sailor; Jesus of Nazareth was 
 a carpenter and a landsman. If there is one thing 
 above all others that a sailor holds in contempt, it is 
 the ignorance of the average landsman of the sea and 
 the things that pertain to sea- faring life. What does 
 a landsman know about a "spar," the "capstan," the 
 "halyards," or the various "masts" and "riggings"? 
 What is the difference between a "barque" and a 
 "schooner," a "brig" and a "brigantine" ? Which side 
 is "starboard" and which "port"? How little a 
 landsman knows the vocabulary of the sailor. Simon 
 Peter and his seasoned fellow fishermen ought to know 
 better than a carpenter, the best time and places for 
 fishing. And yet this Galilean with whom the fisher- 
 man had only a slight acquaintance up to this time, 
 presumes to give orders, and to take command of that 
 fishing boat. "Put out into the deep, Simon, and let 
 down your nets for a draught." Such is the order, and 
 a landsman gives it. What audacity. Will Captain 
 Simon obey the order? It is a trying ordeal; it is a 
 severe test. The fisherman answers, and his reply is, 
 all things considered, surprising. For one thing it is 
 full of humility; for another, of obedient faith. "Mas- 
 ter, we toiled all night and took nothing; but at Thy 
 word we will let down the nets." It should be observed 
 that the word "Master" here is not the same word 
 usually translated "Rabbi" or "Teacher." This word 
 is peculiar to Luke, and means "Commander," "Ar- 
 ranger," or "Director." Thus it comes to pass that 
 Simon Peter, Captain of his fishing smack, retires 
 
WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 205 
 
 from command, so to speak, and receives orders from 
 Jesus, the carpenter. 
 
 Thou hast not measured strength as we 
 Sea-faring men that toil. And yet — 
 Once more, once more at Thy strange word, 
 Master, we will let down the net! 
 
 "At Thy word I will let down the nets." Aye! that 
 was a noteworthy answer, and it rebukes us of today, 
 who are loath to acknowledge fully the Pilot of our 
 lives, recognizes His authority, and accept His com- 
 mand. If we but took Jesus at His word, what differ- 
 ent persons we would be ; power would supplant weak- 
 ness, love subdue hate, and our days become dynamic 
 for good beyond computation. Simon accepts orders 
 from his new Captain, and lo! the memorable issue 
 thereof. Back again goes the little boat to the deep 
 places, perhaps the very water where the four had 
 toiled all night without success, and there Simon and 
 his partner let down the nets. What is the use? Noth- 
 ing will come of it. Why waste the time ? Yes, — but 
 wait; the nets are heavy as lead; pull away. What 
 have we here ? Why, so great a catch that the nets are 
 on the point of breaking, and it becomes necessary to 
 call the men in the other boat to help haul in the 
 multitude of fishes. The haul is so great that the little 
 craft is in peril of sinking. See the astonishment of 
 the fishermen. Look at their faces. Observe the 
 amazement and the awe ! Oh ! it is a wonderful catch, 
 and when Simon Peter sees the great number of fishes, 
 he falls down at Jesus' knees saying: "Depart from me, 
 for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Peter did not want 
 Jesus to go. He did not mean just what he said, save 
 
206 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 with regard to his sins. It was like him though to say 
 what he did; it was an impulsive speech, but Jesus 
 understood it perfectly. James and John, partners 
 with Simon, — and probably Andrew, though he is not 
 named, — were likewise amazed and impressed, and of 
 a right they should have been. Here in their very 
 midst was One who spake with authority, and whose 
 personality was radiant, and in whom were new and 
 surprising forces for good. Here was One who could 
 bring success from failure and turn darkness into 
 light. Surely it was worth much even to be with Jesus. 
 Yea, it was worth giving up all to follow such a 
 Leader, so able a Captain. 
 
 THE FOUR CALLED TO A NEW CAREER 
 
 There is that fishing boat piled with fishes such as 
 possibly no other night of toil had ever won. Simon 
 Peter and his partners received and accepted their new 
 life call. "Jesus said unto Simon, "Fear not; from 
 henceforth thou shalt catch men." Now this predic- 
 tion of Jesus is a flash-light upon the Christian career. 
 Observe the phrase closely. Men and fish are con- 
 trasted. Here is the great catch of fish, and while the 
 fishermen are marveling over it, Jesus tells them that 
 their greatest success is to be as catchers of men. But 
 the meaning of the Greek word throws still further 
 light on their future career. Literally, the sentence is 
 — "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt take alive." 
 Is not the picture vivid? There are the multitudes of 
 fish ; you see them flopping about, — a great pile of 
 squirming, wriggling fish ; but even as you look, already 
 life is beginning to leave their bodies and they are less 
 
WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 207 
 
 active than when you first looked. In a little while 
 death will have stilled them everyone. They were 
 caught to die. And thus Jesus tells the wondering 
 fishermen — ''Henceforth you shall take alive." That 
 is to say, "you will win men and women, and save 
 them to that life which is life indeed — the super- 
 abundant life." And surely the fishermen perceived 
 some hint of the deep meaning in Jesus' words, for 
 when they had brought the boat to land, they left all 
 and followed Him. An accomplished student of the 
 Gospels holds that there were three stages in the 
 discipleship of the met* that Jesus called to be with 
 Him. First, as simple believers in Him as the Christ 
 and His occasional companion; second, the abandon- 
 ment of secular occupations and a constant attendance 
 on His person; third, when called especially to be 
 Apostles. This incident marks the second stage of the 
 calling of the four fishermen to be followers of Jesus 
 Christ. They leave their nets, their boats, their all, 
 and follow Him. The love of the lake, the habits of 
 years cannot hold them back. The fishermen are now 
 Apostles in the making. 
 
 We have in these eleven verses of the fifth chapter 
 of Luke a picturesque account of Jesus among the 
 every-day things of life. There amidst the nets and 
 the boats and the familiar occupations, the Son of God 
 gave a new meaning, and imparted a new power to the 
 lives of four fishermen. Thus it is that spiritual power 
 is accessible whilst we are busy with the every day 
 affairs of life, — the farmer in the field, the woman 
 in the kitchen, the blacksmith in his shop, the merchant 
 behind the counter, the conductor on the train. Thus 
 
208 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 it is that God visits us here and now to turn defeat 
 into victory, to scatter darkness with light, and to over- 
 come evil with good. Deep calleth unto deep at this 
 very hour. God's spirit speaks to our spirit, rebukes 
 our surface thinking and our surface living, and 
 through Christ He calls upon us to "put out into the 
 deep." Have we not tarried long enough on the beach 
 and by the shore? Are we not done with the shallow 
 waters, where to be safe is to be useless? Is it not 
 high time for us to acknowledge the new Captain and 
 bid Him command our lives, even as He commanded 
 Peter's sailing vessel that memorable day on Galilee? 
 Yea, and more, bid Him pilot us "over life's tempestu- 
 ous sea." 
 
 Jesus calls us o'er the tumult 
 Of our life's wild, restless sea, 
 Day by day His sweet voice soundeth, 
 Saying, "Christian follow me." 
 
 As of old, Apostles heard it 
 
 By the Galilean lake, 
 
 Turned from home and toil and kindred 
 
 Leaving all for His dear sake. 
 
 Jesus calls us from the worship 
 Of the vain world's golden store, 
 From each idol that would keep us, 
 Saying, "Christian, love me more." 
 
XVI 
 
 WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY 
 SPIRIT? 
 
 The Ministry of the Comforter or "God in Action" 
 
John 14:16. 
 
 And I will pray the Father, and He shall 
 give you another Comforter, that He may be 
 with you forever. 
 
 John 15:26. 
 
 But when the Comforter is come, whom I 
 will send unto you from the Father, even the 
 Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the 
 Father, He shall bear witness of me. 
 
 John 16:7. 
 
 Nevertheless I tell you the truth : it is expe- 
 dient for you that I go away; for if I go not 
 away, the Comforter will not come unto you; 
 but if I go, I will send Him unto you. 
 
XVI 
 
 WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 
 
 Is there any other Biblical term more misunderstood 
 than the phrase "The Holy Spirit"? What or who is 
 the Holy Spirit? How define, explain or describe the 
 Holy Spirit? A great many devout Christians are 
 uncertain as to the nature and ministration of the Holy 
 Spirit. It is not surprising, therefore, that the man 
 in the street is perplexed by the term. Moreover, a 
 great deal has been written of a speculative character 
 pertaining to this subject. Arbitrary distinctions have 
 been made; mystical meanings discovered, and the re- 
 sult has been the darkening rather than the clarifying 
 of the theme. I venture to say that any attempt to 
 distinguish between "The Spirit of God," "The Spirit 
 of Christ," and "The Holy Spirit" is unwarranted and 
 confusing in the extreme. The three phrases are in 
 essence one ; they are of God ; they may be used inter- 
 changeably or synonymously. In this study a threefold 
 consideration of the "Comforter" is proposed: first, 
 the meaning of the Comforter; second, the transform- 
 ing power of the Comforter; and third, the conditions 
 under which the Comforter was sent. 
 
 I 
 
 The word translated "Comforter" is the Greek 
 "Paraclete." But this new and unusual word means 
 
212 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 little to the average reader of the New Testament. In 
 the margin of the Revised Version are found two other 
 words which aid us to understand who the Comforter 
 is and what He does. An examination of these mar- 
 ginal renderings may be profitable. 
 
 "Comforter" may be translated "Advocate." An 
 advocate is one who speaks for another and presents 
 the merits of his case in the most favorable light pos- 
 sible. The word is pictorial, it suggests a courtroom 
 scene and an able advocate impressively arguing or 
 pleading for his client. There may have been some 
 famous advocates, men so eloquent, so persuasive, with 
 such a comprehensive knowledge of the law that merely 
 to put one's case in such good hands meant freedom 
 from anxiety. Think what it must have meant to se- 
 cure the talents of such advocates as William F. Evarts, 
 Rufus Choate or Daniel Webster. The Comforter of 
 the Holy Spirit is an "Advocate." Advocate for 
 whom ? For us or for God ? In a sense for both. On 
 the one hand bearing witness of Him to us; on the 
 other bearing witness of us to Him. So Jesus in leav- 
 ing His disciples promised them the presence of the 
 "Advocate." And there is in the word a wealth of 
 suggestion. 
 
 The second word in the margin translating "Para- 
 clete" is the familiar word "helper." Thus Jesus spoke 
 to His disciples — "If I go not away the Helper will 
 not come." Here is a word that everybody under- 
 stands. In many of the well-known trades a full- 
 fledged journeyman is assisted by an apprentice who 
 is called a "helper." That helper serves his fellow 
 craftsman in many capacities. The Holy Spirit, the 
 
WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 213 
 
 Spirit of God, Christ's Spirit, is our helper, ready and 
 willing to help us in matters great or small. There are 
 some specific ways in which the Spirit helps the fol- 
 lower of the Christ. These ways are set forth in the 
 Scripture. He is, for instance, a "teacher." When 
 the Great Teacher was parted from His disciples, when 
 He left this world in physical presence, He sent His 
 Spirit to teach us. We may learn of Him many things ; 
 be instructed of Him in the deepest subjects, even 
 though we cannot sit at the feet of Jesus as did Mary 
 in the home at Bethany. The Spirit is also a "Guide." 
 And what blessed help Divine guidance is in a world 
 where the way is dark and doubtful. The Holy Spirit 
 is our unfailing guide. Still again; the Holy Spirit 
 bears witness and testifies, that is to say, He confirms 
 and substantiates spiritual truth. Certainly this word 
 "Helper" is aptly applied to the Spirit of God which 
 teaches, guides, and bears witness. The Spirit also 
 convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. 
 This is work of the Holy Spirit among those who are 
 of the "world." And even in this capacity the term 
 "helper" is most appropriate. 
 
 Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 
 
 In addition to the words "Advocate" and "Helper" 
 there is a third which translates "Comforter" quite 
 accurately; a term, too, which has come to have 
 through the World War a very large place in popular 
 favor. This term is "Ally." The Holy Spirit that 
 Christ imparts is our ally ; Divinity-fighting for us and 
 with us. It is the knowledge of this ally that enables 
 many an apparently hard-pressed and all but defeated 
 
214 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 man to say, "They that be with me are more than they 
 that be against me." There was a ballad much sung 
 during the last months of the great war which describes 
 a blind French soldier sitting by the window of his own 
 home, his little son by his side. They heard the sound 
 of martial music and of tramping men. The blind 
 French soldier requested the little boy to tell him what 
 division of soldiery was passing by. The boy looked 
 out of the window and was mystified by the sight of 
 strange khaki-clad men bearing a flag that was new to 
 him. When he reported what he saw to his father, the 
 blind Frenchman became greatly excited. Breathlessly 
 he asked the boy if there were white stars on a blue 
 field in the flag; he asked him if there were broad 
 stripes of red and white. The little fellow answered 
 "yes," and the blind soldier leaped to his feet exclaim- 
 ing — "They have come! The Americans have come! 
 France and the cause of liberty is saved. Our great 
 ally is here!" So may we think of this Spirit of God 
 and Christ, the Holy Spirit, not only as a Comforter, 
 as Teacher, as Guide, as Revealer, as Advocate and 
 Helper, but as our great Ally — Almighty God, Him- 
 self. Our Great Ally is here ! 
 
 ii 
 
 The coming of the Comforter brought a transform- 
 ing power into the lives of the followers of Jesus. 
 Symbolically He bestowed the Spirit upon His disciples 
 when after His resurrection He appeared among them 
 in the upper room in Jerusalem. Then, "He breathed 
 upon His disciples and sayeth unto them, — receive ye 
 the Holy Spirit." Actually and in power the Spirit 
 
WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 215 
 
 came on the day of Pentecost following His resurrec- 
 tion, came according to His promise; and with the 
 coming of the Comforter, the Advocate, the Helper, 
 the Ally, the Church was born. Observe the amazing 
 difference the coming of the Spirit made in the lives 
 of that little group of disciples. At the time of their 
 Master's arrest they all forsook Him and fled. In the 
 court of the High Priest, Simon Peter weakened and 
 lost his courage in the presence of a saucy maid who 
 twitted him with being a follower of the Nazarene. 
 After His crucifixion that little group came together 
 again, but they came in fear; they met in secrecy and 
 behind locked doors. His followers were like sheep 
 without a shepherd, they were broken in spirit and 
 apparently all power had gone from their lives. The 
 Comforter came. The Advocate arrived. The great 
 Ally emerged. The Helper was at hand. The Spirit 
 entered into the lives of men who had been cowardly, 
 and made them bold as lions. Peter, who had denied 
 his Lord, became the spokesman on that niemorable 
 day of Pentecost. His words were full of fire. He 
 spoke with authority and was unafraid. In the pres- 
 ence of a great multitude he charged them vith having 
 crucified Jesus who had become both Lore and Christ. 
 A little while later Peter and John, ha/ing been ar- 
 rested, were brought in chains before the Jewish Coun- 
 cil and threatened by that august body not to teach or 
 preach any more in the name of Jesus. How magnifi- 
 cently those two disciples answered that threat. 
 "Whether it is right in the sight jf God to hearken 
 unto you rather than unto God judge ye: for we 
 cannot but speak the things whioi we saw and heard." 
 
216 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Stephen, in the presence of the High Priest and the 
 members of the high council on trial for his very life, 
 spoke with the same utter disregard of his own for- 
 tunes, and with a boldness that cannot be explained 
 except by the presence of the Comforter which was 
 with him in power and might. Then when sentence 
 of death had been passed upon Stephen and they took 
 him out of the City and stoned him, he died with a 
 prayer on his lips — a prayer of forgiveness for those 
 who did the stoning and with his face aglow with the 
 glory of God. 
 
 The history of the Apostolic Church is the Gospel 
 of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, the 
 Helper, the Ally. The book of Acts thrills with this 
 infilling of the Divine Spirit in the lives of the follow- 
 ers of Christ. The letters of Paul glow with the same 
 light. No wonder D. L. Moody said, "The Holy Spirit 
 is God at work." Another eminent Christian and a 
 great scholar said, "The Holy Spirit is God in action." 
 Wherever a great Christian man or woman lives, it 
 will be found that the reason for their potent and 
 fruitful activity is because something is added to their 
 personalities and that something is the Spirit of God. 
 "I live, and yet not I but Christ liveth in me," cried 
 Paul. Paul olus the Holy Spirit accounts for his 
 career of incredible zeal. 
 
 The history »f the Foreign Missionary enterprise 
 affords another 'llustration of the transforming power 
 of the Holy Spirt. We are tempted here at home to 
 find substitutes foi the Spirit, it is not so with our 
 fellow-workers in thv waste places of the earth. They 
 are Spirit-filled and ipirit-led; there is a power and 
 
WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 21T 
 
 poise in their lives which, with few exceptions, make 
 them a marked and set apart group of workers for the 
 Lord. When Henry M. Stanley found David Living- 
 stone after many months of search, he found him in 
 the very heart of the wildest section of Africa, a broken 
 man physically, but spiritually full of fire and with 
 faith unshaken. Stanley urged him to return to the 
 comfort and ease of civilization and the great popular 
 acclaim that awaited him in England. It was a tre- 
 mendous temptation, but Livingstone arose superior 
 to it. He would not leave his post of duty. Stanley 
 could not understand it at the time, but as he reflected 
 upon the matter it became increasingly clear. Living- 
 stone plus the Holy Spirit, plus Christ, plus God — that 
 is the explanation. 
 
 in 
 
 The coming of the Comforter was conditioned upon 
 Jesus' going away. "It is expedient for you," He said, 
 "That I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter 
 will not come unto you." The blessing of the absent 
 Christ was the coming of the Spirit. At the time, the 
 disciples could not understand how by the deprivation 
 of Jesus' physical presence there would come still 
 greater blessing through His spiritual presence. In 
 that upper room the thought of Jesus' going away held 
 only pain for His friends and followers, but they were 
 soon to learn that it was only through His going that 
 the greater gain could come. Up to this time the dis- 
 ciples were dependent upon the physical presence of 
 their Lord in order to serve Him best, but they were to 
 do the "greater works" under the spell of His Spirit, 
 
218 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 not His physical presence. In His physical presence 
 He was with them; by the coming of the Comforter, 
 — the Spirit of Truth — He was in them. Says Bishop 
 Brent : "The presence of the Paraclete took the place 
 of the localized Christ not as a bare substitute but as 
 that which constitutes a superior presence, including 
 all that is held formerly and adding greatness to great- 
 ness, riches to wealth. In going Christ came in a ful- 
 ness which was wanting before He went, the fulness of 
 added availability, a higher degree of presence." 
 
 How easy it is for us to place our dependence upon 
 the physical, that which we can see, touch, and hear or 
 taste. How difficult for us to trust the Spirit unseen 
 and intangible. It does not come easy to say and be- 
 lieve it: "For we look not at the things which are 
 seen but at the things that are unseen, for the things 
 which are seen are temporal, but the things which are 
 not seen are eternal." The Apostle learned that truth 
 in the school of the Comforter. By the withdrawal of 
 Jesus' physical presence there came the unspeakable 
 gift of the Comforter, Advocate, Helper and Ally, 
 never absent, ever ready to bless, to heal, to guide. 
 
 In this fact that it was expedient for Christ to go 
 away that the greater blessing might come, is there 
 not a principle admitting of wide application? Is it 
 expedient that these apparent losses should come to us 
 in order that the greater gain may take their place? 
 Take the solemn matter of death, and the separation 
 from us of those we love and upon whose support we 
 lean. The anguish of separation is often too deep 
 even for tears. And yet, to those who hold the faith 
 of Jesus Christ, by that very experience new avenues 
 
WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 219 
 
 of power have been opened, and if the world of sense 
 and sound becomes less absorbing the world of Spirit 
 becomes more real. Absent in body, present in the 
 spirit, those dear ones seem closer than breathing, 
 nearer than hands or feet. 
 
 Was it expedient that our loved ones left us in the 
 flesh, that we should know them the more intimately 
 in the realm of the Spirit? Was it expedient that we 
 should lose their physical fellowship that we mfght 
 gain their spiritual companionship? In what seemed 
 all loss, is there not all gain? Is there not a higher 
 spiritualism than that which attempts to establish com- 
 munication with the dead, a faith which knows, realizes 
 and rejoices in a spiritual communion with those who 
 have gone from us ? I do not attempt to answer these 
 questions. I raise them and leave them unanswered. 
 There are depths here which we have not fathomed; 
 there are heights here yet unsealed ; vast areas not yet 
 explored. Jesus brought to the world a new release 
 of spiritual power by means of the withdrawal of His 
 physical presence. Beware lest we think or speak of 
 our Lord as though He were "an absentee Christ." 
 Jesus is here. He is here in spiritual power. Here in 
 the person of the Comforter, the Advocate, Helper and 
 Ally. To quote the words of a great modern Chris- 
 tian: "He is nearer to us, not farther, than He was 
 to those fishermen in Galilee, but we seem slower to 
 forsake our boats and nets than they were. He means 
 us, through His all-embracing, all-reconciling presence, 
 to do greater works than ever He did as an individual 
 there; not to spend our time and energy in arguing 
 about those less great works of His, whether and how 
 
220 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 they were done." We need not pray for the Comforter 
 to come. He has come! We need not plead for the 
 sending of the Spirit. He is here! We have but to 
 receive Him, be filled with Him and be led by Him. 
 
 No distant Lord have I, longing afar to be; 
 
 Made flesh for me He cannot rest until He rests in me. 
 
 Broken in joy and pain, bone of my bone is He; 
 
 Now intimacy clearer still, He dwells himself in me. 
 
 I need not journey for this dearest friend to see, 
 
 Companionship is always mine, He makes His home with me. 
 
XVII 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 
 
 A Hymn of the Nativity set to Music by The Holy 
 Spirit? 
 
Luke 2:8-20. 
 
 And there were shepherds in the same coun- 
 try abiding in the field, and keeping watch by 
 night over their flock. And an angel of the 
 Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord 
 shone round about them: and they were sore 
 afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not 
 afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of 
 great joy which shall be to all the people: for 
 there is born to you this day in the city of 
 David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. 
 And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find 
 a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and 
 lying in a manger. And suddenly there was 
 with the angel a multitude of the heavenly 
 host praising God, and saying, 
 
 Glory to God in the highest, 
 And on earth peace among men 
 in whom He is well pleased. 
 
 And it came to pass, when the angels went 
 away from them into heaven, the shepherds 
 said one to another, Let us now go even unto 
 Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to 
 pass, which the Lord hath made known unto 
 us. And they came with haste, and found both 
 Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the 
 manger. And when they saw it, they made 
 known concerning the saying which was 
 spoken to them about this child. And all that 
 heard it wondered at the things which were 
 spoken unto them by the shepherds. But 
 Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them 
 in her heart. And the shepherds returned, 
 glorifying and praising God for all the things 
 that they had heard and seen, even as it was 
 spoken unto them. 
 
XVII 
 
 THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 
 
 So interwrought are some compositions with certain 
 impressive occasions or illustrious names that it is 
 quite impossible to think of one and not the other. 
 One seldom hears, for instance, the stately measures of 
 the famous march in Lohengrin without thinking of 
 a wedding, particularly a church wedding. The stir- 
 ring hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" suggests 
 the name of Martin Luther. Thomas Knox's "Why 
 Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?" serves to re- 
 call the life of Abraham Lincoln, whose favorite poem 
 it was. Comes Christmas — and the one passage of 
 Scripture that the occasion invariably selects is Saint 
 Luke's story of the birth of Jesus. Last night in many 
 a home this story was read to children just before they 
 said "Our Father Who Art in Heaven" or "Now I 
 Lay Me Down to Sleep." In tens of thousands of 
 Churches this morning this Scripture will be read and 
 made the basis of innumerable sermons. 
 
 Comment upon so flawless a production seems super- 
 fluous until one remembers that it is possible to praise 
 this narrative extravagantly and at the same time not 
 relate it in any practical way to present day affairs or 
 personal life. This is a peril always present, a tend- 
 ency everywhere observable. Today, with tokens of 
 223 
 
224 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 the Christmas event on every hand and this place still 
 vibrant with the melody of "Silent Night," we can do 
 nothing better than to reflect on this Christmas lyric, 
 for such it is — a hymn set to music by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The poetry of this passage is exquisitely fine. Could 
 anything of the kind be lovelier or more simply told 
 than the birth of Jesus as chronicled by "the beloved 
 physician." Here is an event — the most momentous 
 of all history, yet in its telling there is no embellishment 
 nor any tendency to lengthen out detail. The entire 
 twenty verses tucked away in a corner of a modern 
 newspaper would attract little attention and might easily 
 be overlooked. In twelve sentences the world's greatest 
 love story is told; the birth of humanity's most colossal 
 Figure described. 
 
 The scene here described is pastoral, and the locality 
 already famed in Biblical lore. Over these same hills, 
 hundreds of years before, David had tended his father's 
 flock and fought successfully the lion and bear that at- 
 tacked the sheep. Years later the Shepherd King, fa- 
 miliar with both the sweets and the bitterness of re- 
 nown, musing on his boyhood days, commemorated 
 them in that Psalm of Psalms — the Psalm of the Shep- 
 herd's crook, of green pastures and still waters. On 
 these identical hills, to the shepherds abiding in the 
 fields and keeping watch over their flock, the Good 
 News came. Jesus' life was curiously linked with 
 shepherds and the shepherding ministry. He called 
 Himself the Good Shepherd, spoke of His disciples 
 as His flock, and said that He had "other sheep" not 
 of the recognized fold. 
 
 Why were shepherds so signally honored as to be 
 
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 225 
 
 the first to hear the good tidings? Why was not this 
 stupendous event communicated first to a group of 
 learned Rabbis or others of the wise, the renowned, 
 and the great? Is God a respecter of persons? Was 
 this high honor reserved for peasants just because they 
 were poor? Was this distinction withheld from the 
 learned, the great, the rich, just because they were 
 learned, and great, and rich? I think not. There is, 
 to be sure, a fitness in the fact that the first heralding 
 of Jesus' coming should have been to the humble and 
 the lowly. The great majority of the peoples of earth 
 are poor and their lives a battle for *bread and for 
 shelter almost from the cradle to the grave. Even 
 so, we may believe that this was not the chief reason 
 that shepherds were the first to learn of the Saviour's 
 birth. Rather was it not because they were best fitted 
 spiritually to receive the great Word? Edersheim, 
 learned author of one of the best known "Lives of 
 Christ" says that the flocks of sheep watched and tended 
 in the vicinity of Jerusalem were for sacrifice in the 
 Temple and that their guardians were not ordinary 
 shepherds. Whether he is correct or not, we cannot be 
 far wrong in assuming that the watchers of the flock 
 that night of nights possessed a certain preparation of 
 mind and affections to receive the Revelation. The 
 learned, the famous, the exalted of that day, as pos- 
 sibly of all other days, were troubled about many things. 
 Their lives were already full and, after the manner of 
 the Inn at Bethlehem, they had no room for the Great 
 Gift. 
 
 So it came about that the Great Light shone upon 
 the shepherds as they kept watch by night over the 
 
226 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 sheep. An angel of the Lord stood by them and pro- 
 claimed the good tidings of great joy; then others of 
 the celestial band appeared, and they praised God, say- 
 ing — "Glory to God in the Highest." Angels! How 
 the word revives memories that bless and burn. An- 
 gels! Messengers of Almighty God; visitants from a 
 better order of society than this world of sin and death. 
 Angels! Blessed belief that God has His messengers 
 of mercy, His heralds of hope, His personal represen- 
 tatives who can go anywhere, at any time, under any 
 conditions. Angels! The word vivifies my remem- 
 brance of a little girl, nearing the boundaries of the 
 unseen and struggling for life; her speech no longer 
 coherent, but on her lips, clear and distinct, one word 
 was repeated over and over again — "Angels," "An- 
 gels," "Angels." Oh, the exquisite poetry, the lovely 
 language, the unending glory of this Christ Lyric of 
 Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. 
 
 It was not a mere contingency that the birth of Jesus 
 should be inseparably linked with peace among men. 
 Peace on earth is the note exultant in this lyric of 
 Christmas. The New Testament is a Book of peace, 
 not of battles ; a book that pronounces a blessing upon 
 the peace-makers and promises they shall be called the 
 children of God. Between the peace spirit and ideals 
 of the Gospels and the history of nineteen centuries 
 called Christian, there is something incongruous, dis- 
 cordant and discouraging. Save for brief seasons and 
 in restricted areas, Peace on Earth has not yet pre 
 vailed. Christendom has much to her stock of credit — - 
 much that is glorious and monumental, but Christen- 
 dom has yet to know the victory of peace on earth. No 
 
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 227 
 
 sadder spectacle has the world beheld than that of the 
 followers of the Prince of Peace hacking each other 
 down with the sword, assailing each other with gasses 
 that scorch and shrivel the lungs, blasting each other 
 to bits with bombs, drowning each other at sea by the 
 wholesale, hymning hate against each other to the bit- 
 ter end. 
 
 Peace on earth depends upon good will between men. 
 As long as hate reigns in the human heart, as long as 
 covetousness crowds out the spirit of brotherliness, 
 as long as jealousy and envy hold their sway over 
 mankind, so long will wars endure. Mere limitation 
 of armament is not enough — that of itself would be 
 only a makeshift if the causes that produce war are not 
 abolished. Destroy every battleship, scrap every sub- 
 marine, wreck every bombing plane, muster out the 
 soldiery now in ranks — do all this, but make no intelli- 
 gent and consistent effort to create a new heart in man 
 or open up a new outlet for his enthusiasms and ambi- 
 tions, and some kind of war enginery, like the harvest 
 of that famed crop of dragon teeth, will spring up 
 over night. 
 
 There are reasons for rejoicing this morning because 
 world peace is a little nearer than it was a year ago; 
 some progress has been made in the conference on Lim- 
 itation of Armaments at Washington. More people 
 are thinking peace today than ever before. The voice 
 of the people in solemn protest is being heard in the 
 councils of the nations with a new insistence; but make 
 no mistake, the Millennium is not at hand. The voice 
 of the profiteer, the militarist, the granite-hearted ma- 
 terialist who walks by sight and not by faith — their 
 
228 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 voices are still potent in behalf of armaments and a 
 continuance of the old order. Not only so, but the 
 motives for world peace must be deeper than for 
 mere economic reasons if peace on earth endure. 
 
 If Disarmament is desired chiefly because it would 
 reduce taxes and produce a revival of business, we may 
 believe that army and naval disarmament might come 
 to pass, and we should have in its stead a commercial 
 and industrial armament as deadly and as difficult to 
 conquer as the old and familiar kind. Peace on Earth 
 — well it simply cannot come until there is good will 
 among men. Good will among men is retarded by 
 racial pride, handicapped by commercial jealousies, 
 hindered by biased partisanship, crippled and ham- 
 strung by a mean and narrow sectarianism. The core 
 of Jesus' teaching is the supremacy of love and of sac- 
 rifice, the ministry of service and of mercy, the mighti 
 ness of right and justice. If we are to have peace 
 among men, men must know the peace which is Christ's. 
 His peace was an inward experience before it became 
 an outward manifestation. His peace was a result 
 of obedience to the laws of the Spirit. He walked in 
 full fellowship with the Father because from a child 
 He learned obedience. It is possible for society to keep 
 the laws in a formal way and still bend and break the 
 laws of love and remain anarchists in the realm of the 
 Spiritual. There will never be peace on earth until 
 that Gospel of good will which Jesus taught be medi- 
 ated through the lives of those who accept His teach- 
 ing, and narrow nationalism, racial hostilities and sec- 
 tarian bigotry give way to a Christian commonwealth 
 — worldwide in its scope. 
 
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 229 
 
 In the very center of this matchless story is the 
 Child; the chief actor in this world drama 'is the Babe 
 at Bethlehem. The shepherds, the angels, the manger, 
 the star — these are all incidental. Christianity began 
 with a child, and no teaching of Jesus is more funda- 
 mental than when He said: "Suffer the little children 
 to come unto me; forbid them not, for of such is the 
 Kingdom of God." What gesture of Jesus was of 
 more consequence than when, having been asked by His 
 disciples who should be regarded as the greatest in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven, He called to Him a little child 
 and set him in the midst of them, and said : "Verily I 
 say unto you, except ye turn and become as little chil- 
 dren, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of 
 Heaven." Childhood has been wronged terribly, and 
 the rights of the child have been as flagrantly disre- 
 garded as the rights of womanhood. Babies have not 
 always counted for much; there are places still where 
 they count for little. There are corners of the earth 
 where the Gospel has not yet come where babies, espe- 
 cially girl babies, are slain ruthlessly and in great 
 numbers; places where a puny or deformed baby is 
 quickly put out of the way. There are plague spots of 
 so-called Christian countries where babies are not born, 
 but damned into the world, with scarcely a chance to 
 live, to love and be loved. It was the Christ Himself 
 who declared that it was not God's will that His little 
 ones should perish. It is often man's will that the little 
 one suffer and die so young. Sometimes this is due 
 to ignorance, sometimes to a perverse heart and a wrong 
 conception of what Christianity is. 
 
 Yes, a baby is in the center and at the very heart of 
 
230 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 this lyric of Saint Luke's Gospel. God's greatest Gift 
 to the world came as a child — a helpless babe, born 
 amidst poverty and off to one side of the highways 
 of the world. Theodore Parker once said that a baby 
 is better for the heart than a whole academy of philoso- 
 phers, and of course he was right. A young mission- 
 ary madonna, after bending over her first-born, wrote 
 to friends at home — "I had no idea being a mother was 
 so wonderful." The advent of a child in a home is 
 always occasion for wonderment, a never-ceasing mir- 
 acle, and to the seeing eye every mother's man child 
 is haloed with a glory that only the mother-heart may 
 know. Wordsworth was never more seer-like than 
 when he wrote 
 
 Heaven lies about us in our infancy. 
 
 And there are other lines in the same noble ode that 
 have been praised much, but not too much — 
 
 Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: 
 The soul that rises with us our life's star — 
 
 Hath had elsewhere its setting, 
 
 And cometh from afar, 
 
 Not in entire forgetfulness, 
 
 And not in utter nakedness, 
 But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
 
 From God, who is our home. 
 
 There is a something in the touch of the hand of a 
 little child more enchanting than that of a fairy's 
 wand. I can understand how the hard heart of the 
 leading character in a famous story melted utterly when 
 he felt a child's soft cheek against his, and the tiny 
 fingers on his neck and behind his ears and in his hair. 
 
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 231 
 
 Then the trustfulness and the affection and the faith of 
 a little child : what is there in all the world so irresist- 
 ible? 
 
 Well do I remember arriving in the Union Station 
 at St. Louis on a blustery winter night some years ago, 
 and alighting from the car with me was a young mother 
 and her baby, a beautiful child, possibly a year old. 
 She was heavily burdened with baggage, and I offered 
 to carry the child for her. She was a real mother, for 
 she took a good look at me — a searching look — and 
 then she handed the baby over to me. She expected to 
 be met by some of her kinspeople in the station, so she 
 informed me, but no one appeared, and after we had 
 waited and looked about for some little time she said, 
 "Would you mind keeping baby while I call up my rela- 
 tives here?" Time was when such a request would 
 have set me quaking and filled me with a nameless sort 
 of fear, but that time was a good ways in the past. 
 Only five hours before I had said good-by to my own 
 frisky five. So I kept baby, and his mother disappeared 
 in the direction of a telephone booth. She was gone a 
 good ten minutes, and during her absence I paced up 
 and down the long waiting room, holding the little 
 fellow snug in my arms. He was a dear; he was con- 
 tent; he trusted me perfectly. He rested his velvety 
 cheek against mine and gazed at me out of his big 
 blue eyes as one who had absolute faith, never doubt- 
 ing but that even a stranger would protect him from 
 the smallest harm. His little soft hand stole around 
 my neck and rested there ever so lightly. I thought of 
 the lines : 
 
232 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 Softer it seemed than the softest down 
 On the breast of the gentlest dove 
 And its timid press and its sweet caress 
 Were strong in the strength of love. 
 
 By and by and his mother returned. I helped her and 
 her young son into a taxi and said good-night, and 
 the little stranger vanished out of my life as quickly as 
 he came into it, but he left a memory tender and 
 precious. 
 
 God hath joined together the cradle and Christmas. 
 Christianity has coronated childhood. God gives us 
 children, but the molding of them for better or for 
 worse — that ministry is our own. Christ put the child 
 in our midst, but society has for a greater part set 
 him to one side — neglected, slighted and wronged him. 
 If we want peace on earth there is a way to get it: 
 train the child in the teachings of Jesus; train him to 
 think peace, not war ; rear him in the ideals of brother- 
 hood; teach him the supremacy of service — but to do 
 that successfully the child must have for environment 
 a society that is Christian not only on Sunday but 
 seven days in the week. 
 
 Christmas helps us to evaluate the children in our 
 home at their true worth. Surely the blessed birthday 
 of our Lord is a family festival like unto no other. 
 There is a story which inspired a much admired paint- 
 ing called "Content." A Chinese beggar is shown 
 coming in before his king. With the beggar are two 
 small sons. He claims to be penniless; he asks for 
 money. The king promises to give him all that his 
 heart should desire, but there is one condition: the 
 beggar must give in return one half of his visible 
 
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 233 
 
 wealth. To this he readily agrees for he believes he has 
 no wealth. Then the king mentions in detail his pay- 
 ment, and the first item he calls for is one of the lads. 
 The beggar had not thought of his boys as wealth and 
 he is staggered by the request. In the end, the mendi- 
 cant goes away from the court with an arm about each 
 boy, content with what he has. The story is good as 
 far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. It is costly 
 to rear children and give them a chance in the world. 
 If society were really Christian, beggars would be rare, 
 and rarer still the children of beggars, to be dwarfed, 
 hindered and cursed by poverty's blight. 
 
 Christmas in many a home this year cannot but be 
 different from Christmas of a year ago. Oh, what a 
 company of children whose shouts and merry laughter 
 made music a year ago have since gone from us by 
 way of the great pilgrimage of death. How small their 
 feet, and how brave to take that long journey with 
 never a doubt or a fear ! Thrice blessed is the truth 
 that the Christmas lyric includes not only poetry, 
 charm and color but comfort as well. He whose birth 
 we commemorate, — He who said: "Suffer the little 
 children to come unto Me," — shall He not bless and 
 comfort the heavy heart in the homes where Christmas 
 today is not the same nor ever can be as it was ere the 
 charmed circle was broken? It was the Christ who 
 said of these little ones, "their angels do always behold 
 the face of my Father Who is in Heaven." 
 
 O Christmas, merry Christmas! 
 
 Is it really come again? 
 With its memories and greetings, 
 
 With its joy and with its pain. 
 
234 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 
 
 There's a minor in the carol, 
 
 And a shadow in the light, 
 And a spray of cypress twining 
 
 With the holly-wreath tonight. 
 And the hush is never broken 
 
 By laughter, light and low, 
 As we listen in the starlight 
 
 To the "bells across the snow." 
 
 O Christmas, merry Christmas! 
 
 Tis not so very long 
 Since other voices blended 
 
 With the carol and the song! 
 If we could but hear them singing 
 
 As they are singing now, 
 If we could but see the radiance 
 
 Of the crown on each dear brow, 
 There would be no sighs to smother, 
 
 No hidden tear to flow, 
 As we listen in the starlight 
 
 To the "bells across the snow." 
 
 O Christmas, merry Christmas! 
 
 This never more can be; 
 We cannot bring again the days 
 
 Of our unshadowed glee. 
 But Christmas, happy Christmas, 
 
 Sweet herald of goodwill, 
 With holy songs of glory 
 
 Brings holy gladness still. 
 For peace and hope may brighten, 
 
 And patient love may glow, 
 As we listen in the starlight 
 
 To the "bells across the snow." 
 
 THE END 
 
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