draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him" (Luke 5: 5-11).

When Jesus said unto Simon, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught, Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net." Simon is incredulous; his faith is weak; but obedience to the word of the Master prostrates and humbles him. Men are slow to launch out into the deep; they are slow to make sacrifices for truth and justice; they hesitate to obey the Master; and as a result they toil in darkness, and take nothing, or, at most, what they take is destined to perish, and come to naught. The Master is he that stands to sacrifice every earthly consideration in the cause of truth and justice; the Master is he that teaches men the way of perfection. "I am the Almighty God, walk before Me, and be thou perfect."

The good are friends of God and man;
The truly good do all they can.

They sacrifice for all the race;

And thus they win the higher place.

CHAPTER IV

ISAAC. THE STORY OF THE IDEAL FATHER, MOTHER, AND CHILD

"In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Rom. 9: 7).

IN

N the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, it is written that Abram's name is changed to Abraham. "Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee." Sarai's name is changed to Sarah. "I will bless her, and she shall be the mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her." In the story of Abraham and Sarah, we read of the ideal and regenerate father and mother. They were disciplined and chastened; they were made perfect by suffering; they came out of Egypt; "And Abram went out of Egypt, he and his wife" (Gen. 13:1). They abandoned the sensuous life; before their names were changed they were in the Gentile state; and when they became Israelites in their hearts they were given new names. "That which is natural is first; and afterwards that which is spiritual." Abram had a son by an Egyptian woman, a bondwoman, whose hand was against every man. The son of the natural man is a Gentile; and is born into the world "like a wild ass's colt" (Job II: 12).

Abram and Sarai were faithful; they abandoned

Egypt; they planted themselves vineyards; they cultivated domestic grapes, and suffered no wild grapes to grow in their vineyards (Isa. 5: 1-5). In a word, they cultivated the virtues, and prevailed with God. They were inspirational, and prophetic. God was not hid from them. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?" seeing that he will command those of his household "to do justice and judgment" (Gen. 18:17, 19). Their new names were formed out of their old ones; the natural man in the process of evolution becomes the spiritual man. They are not to be remembered by what they were in their primitive state, but by what they were in their regenerate state. "They shall no more be remembered by their [old] names" (Hosea 2:17).

"The kings of people shall be of Sarah." Why is Sarah called the mother of kings? She is resurrected from the dead; she has attained to great perfection of character. She is the mother of the regenerate, of a royal race. She is the ideal mother; she is the mother of them who are fit to rule. "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and lowly; and he points the way of salvation; and cometh riding upon an ass" (Zech. 9:9). They who have attained to self-mastery; they who are just in mind and in heart are the kings of Israel. "We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings" (1 Kings 20: 31). Joseph "ruled over all the land of Egypt." The people said of Abraham: "Thou art a king from God among us" (Gen. 23:6). "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" (Matt. 2:2).

He who feeds men serveth few,
He serveth all who dare be true.

EMERSON.

Abraham is the father of two races, two nations: Ishmael represents the Gentiles, the first in time; and Isaac, the Israelites, the last born in time, but the first-born in power. "For they are not all Israelites, which are of Israel: Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Rom. 9:6, 7). The legitimate children of Abraham are not represented in the fierce and rebellious Ishmael, but in those who have fled the carnal life, in those who have abandoned the Egyptian life, in those who live the calm and peaceful life of the meditative Isaac. "In Isaac shall Abraham's seed be called." The things that are said to have happened to Abraham, like the things which are told of this or that patriarch, or prophet, are not given as mere matters of history, but they are given in fact to illustrate principles. "All these things happened unto them for types, and they are written for our admonition by those who have attained to the end of the world," who have overcome the world (1 Cor. 10: 11). Abraham prays for the redemption of his first-born son. "And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before Thee" (Gen. 17:18). According to the Scriptures, every unregenerate person, though born a Jew, is a Gentile; and every regenerate person, though born a Gentile, is an Israelite. "He is a Jew who is one inwardly" (Rom. 2:29).

"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman [an Egyptian] was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise" (Gal. 4:22, 23). He who is born after the flesh is an Egyptian; but he who is born of the spirit is an Israelite. Ishmael represents the Egyptian

state of consciousness, the primitive state of man. "I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles" (Acts 22: 21). "Israel is a people near unto God" (Ps. 148: 14). The Israelite, the Jew, or the Hebrew is the name of him who has fled Egypt, and lives in the promised land; he is one who is born of a free woman; and lives in the land of freedom; and because of his regeneracy he is "near unto God." "For indeed I was stolen away [says Joseph] out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that should put me into the dungeon" (Gen. 40: 15). Joseph was not hopeless in bondage, because he knew the "way out." The bondage that constitutes one an Egyptian is the bondage of the soul; it is the bondage that comes of carnality. Joseph attained to great perfection of life; he was a master in Israel; though he lived in Egypt, he was superior to the sensuous and carnal life of its people; he was a "ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Gen. 41: 43). The regenerate are they who live superior to the sensuous spirit of the world; "they rule over all the land of Egypt."

Is the moral development of man fortuitous, capricious, accidental? Is the evolution of the human soul, the most important thing under Heaven, uncontrolled by fixed principles? Are the marvelous allegories and parables associated with the lives of the patriarchs and prophets mere matters of history? It is submitted that the Scriptures announce principles. Therefore, let the moralist disengage them from the passing, the local, and the temporary; and point out the universal and the eternal. The aim and end of Science is the discovery of principles. Is there an orderly sequence? What is the Law? Science teaches that the processes of nature are orderly; and flays