outside of the field of human experience; therefore, those legends and historical events interspersed in the Scriptures, and which have filled the world with theological riddles and speculations, are not essential to religion.

O Power, more near my life than life itself,
If sometimes I must hear good men debate
Of other witness of Thyself than Thou,

As if there needed any help of ours

To nurse Thy flickering life, that else must cease,
Blown out, as 'twere a candle, by men's breath,
My soul shall not be taken in their snare,
To change her inward surety for their doubt
Muffled from sight in formal robes of proof:
While she can only feel herself through Thee,
I fear not Thy withdrawal; more I fear,
Seeing, to know Thee not, hoodwinked with dreams
Of signs and wonders, while, unnoticed, Thou,
Walking Thy garden still commun'st with men,
Missed in the commonplace of miracle.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

The two great commands, or principles, the love of God and the love of man, proclaimed by Moses (Deut. 6:4, 5; Lev. 19:18) and affirmed by Jesus (Mark 12:28-31) represent an end in themselves; they represent a high and holy state of consciousness, a state wherein man apprehends in his mind and heart the Fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man. Therefore, it may be said that all other religious ideas are but means to the end just described, to wit: the writing of these two great principles in the heart of man. "And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart" (Deut. 6:6). "On

these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:40). All the precepts of the Law and the teachings of the prophets were given that these two great principles might be written in the hearts of men; and thus the Kingdom of God made an existing fact on earth among the children of men. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

The great religious teachers of the world, the Masters, the "unchangeable priesthood," they of the order of Melchisedec, are forever calling mankind back to the Law; they are forever calling mankind back to the consideration of a few simple principles which are both teachable and demonstrable; and are, therefore, not a matter of speculation. But so prone is the heart of man to the subtilty of the serpent that these principles, simple in themselves, are speedily obscured by the inventions of sensuous men, and thus religion becomes sectarian, and partisan, and given over to contention, strife, and speculation. "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Cor. 11:3).

How simple, how orderly, how divinely human have been the lives and the teachings of all the truly great. They who fulfill the Law live the simple life; and teach the same doctrine; for they are the organs of the One Eternal Spirit. "God hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, which has been since the world began " (Luke 1:70). "Wisdom in all ages entering into holy souls have made them friends of God, and prophets" (Wisd. of Sol. 7:27). Religion is represented in the love of God and of man. Paul, a true lover of God and man, tells in vigorous phrase that religion is "as

sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal, "if the soul be not attuned to love (1 Cor. 13: 1-3). "Therefore, Love is the fulfilling of the Law" (Rom. 13: 8, 10).

The Spirit of God is our Master. Without the free guidance of the Spirit, the soul of man becomes arid and dry, his voice hollow and his utterance false. Man, would he be a man, must labor to make his soul an organ of the Holy Spirit; for He is indeed the Comforter; "He shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). If man be faithful, the day will come when the Spirit will possess him and will gird him for the contest (John 21:18). The men of the Spirit are the religious teachers of mankind; for in truth they are sent of God (2 Chron. 24:20; I Sam. 10: 6; 16: 13; Ezek. 11:5).

While swings the sea, while mists the mountains shroud, While thunder's surges burst on banks of cloud,

Still at the prophet's feet the Nations sit.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

CHAPTER VIII

ELIJAH

"Elias for being zealous and fervent for the Law was taken up into heaven" (1 Maccabees 2: 58).

IN the first book of Kings (16:30–33), it is written that Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord above all, that he did more to provoke the Lord of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. He took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of the King of the Zidonians, "and went and served Baal, and worshiped him." The Law of Jehovah promulgated by Moses was obligatory upon the children of Israel, and their rulers (Deut. 31: 10–13; 17: 18, 19; Josh. 1:8). Every king of Israel was commanded to have a book of the Law (Deut. 17: 18). Since the Law is at the heart of Israel's religion, the kings of Israel, like David, and Hezekiah, and Josiah, who stood unqualifiedly for the Law and rallied the people to its observance, and destroyed the idols, altars, and images used in the worship of false gods, were the great kings of Israel; they were God's anointed; they were Jehovah's appointed representatives. Ahab on the contrary represents the fallen and degenerate kings of Israel. In Israel all true men live worthy of the Law; and all degenerates disregard and mock it. A faithful observ

ance of the Law is the condition of all higher knowledge; it is the Law, therefore, that points the way of the ruler and teacher in Israel. "O how I love Thy Law! it is my meditation all the day. . . I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from evil ways, that I might keep Thy Word. I have not departed from Thy judgments: for Thou hast taught me. Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way" (Ps. 119: 97-104).

Not only were the Israelites commanded to serve and worship Jehovah, but they were also commanded to blot out the evidence of the worship of other gods. "Ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves" (Ex. 34: 13). Death was meted out to those who counseled the worship of other gods than Jehovah (Deut. 13:6-9). No Israelite is suffered to forget that Jehovah is a just God, and the judge of all the earth. "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25).

The one infallible test of an Israelite is, that he faithfully serve and worship Israel's God, Jehovah; the God who led Israel out of Egypt, the land of carnality, "the land of Ham" (Ps. 105:23), and gave to Israel the Law. The God who leads man away from the carnal life and teaches him the Law of Human Life, and communes with him in the depths of his own soul is, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Most High God. Jehovah is conceived of as Spirit, as pure mentality; wherever there is Virtue, Truth, Wisdom, and Justice, there is the Spirit of Jehovah made manifest. "Not by virtue of material strength and political power