{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3491", "width": "2228", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM\\nTHE BROWNINGS\\nBY\\nAMORY H. BRADFORD, D.D.\\nAuthor of\\nSpirit and Life, Heredity and Christian Problems, The\\nGrowing Revelation, etc.\\nNEW YORK\\nTHOMAS Y. CROWELL CO.\\nPUBLISHERS", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "2.^\\n15671\\nLibrary of CorKiress\\nTwo Copies Received\\nJUL 7 1900\\nCopyright enitiy\\nSECOND COPY.\\nOf-liveirtl\\nORDLR DIVISION,\\nAUG 3 1900\\nCopyright, 1900,\\nBv TuoMAfe Y. Ckoweli. t Company,", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "i SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE\\nBROWNINGS", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE\\nBROWNINGS.\\nI. REVELATION BY LIFE.\\nA lesson from Robert Broivning.\\nThe noblest and most inspiring religious teachers in\\nall ages and lands have conveyed their messages through\\nthe medium of poetry. Theology always runs in a pro-\\nsaic mould ethics is very likely to take the form of\\napothegm but the truth which inspires, which is the\\nresult of vision rather than of reasoning, usually finds\\npoetic expression. The greatest of the prophets and the\\nmost persuasive of the preachers have all been poets\\nbut all poets have not been preachers and prophets.\\nThe earliest manifestations of religious feeling are poems,\\nlike the hymns of the Vedas. The Hebrew prophets\\nwere all sublime poets. Sometimes their visions were\\nvoiced in the Hebrew parallelisms, and sometimes in\\nprose-poems, but both vision and diction were always of\\nthe nature of poetry. It is possible to go a step farther and\\nto say that most great poets have been profoundly relig-\\nious. Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, Tennyson, the Brown-\\nings, and Whittier were all in the truest sense prophets.\\nIf any in these modern centuries have uttered the truth\\nof God in enduring words, they have been such authors\\nas these, no idle singers of an empty day, but min-\\nstrels who walked the earth with their singing robes\\n5", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "6 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\naround them. They have been voices for the Spirit.\\nThe message of no prophet ever rang more truly to the\\nmusic of love to God and man than do the songs of\\nWhittier; no teacher has spoken more clearly of the\\nimmortal life and the eternal hope than Tennyson\\nthe apostle John was not more intensely and nobly\\nmystical than was Eobert Browning and no prophetess\\nor Sibyl was ever more evidently filled with a divine\\npassion than was Mrs. Browning.\\nIn this little book I shall endeavor to emphasize two\\nor three of the many spiritual lessons which the Brown-\\nings have taught the world. My object is not a study\\nof these poets as religious teachers. That would require\\na volume of more imposing proportions, for one of them\\nwas a profoundly mystical theologian, and the other was\\nan intensely practical preacher. My purpose is exposi-\\ntion rather than investigation.\\nAmong the poems of Bobert Browning is one which\\nmay be called an echo of the sermon on Mars Hill.\\nCleon is a supposed letter from a Greek poet, artist,\\nand philosopher to his patron king. It begins with a\\nrecognition of the munificence and nobility of Protus,\\nwho had sent rich gifts to Cleon. Evidently in response\\nto some inquiry of his king, Cleon recites his own\\nachievements as a poet, painter, and architect and this\\nleads to the thought that he could not claim all the credit\\nfor his skill as an artist, but that it was the fruit of long\\nages of discipline and growth in others. Very quickly\\nhe comes to what the blind poet-preacher of Scotland, Dr.\\nGeorge Mathewson, has called the distinctive character-\\nistic of all religions, viz., their teaching concerning in-\\ncarnation. To this well-nigh universal faith Browning\\nrepresents Cleon as giving expression in the following\\nlines", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 7\\nLong since I imaged, wrote the fiction out,\\nThat he [Zeus] or other God descended here,\\nAnd, once for all, showed simultaneously\\nWhat, in its nature, never can be shown\\nPiecemeal, or in succession showed, I say,\\nThe worth, both absolute and relative.\\nOf all his children from the birth of time,\\nHis instruments for all appointed Avork.\\nThis passage, in which Browning represents a pagan\\nas dimly anticipating the incarnation in Jesus Christ,\\nhas scriptural expression in the Gospel of John And\\nthe word became flesh and dwelt among us. Cleon\\nimagined that God had descended to the earth. Men\\nhave always and everywhere desired a manifested God.\\nThat desire, in almost all lands, has sooner or later as-\\nsumed the proportions of faith. The two great mystics,\\nthe apostle John and Robert Browning, are in entire har-\\nmony at this point. Only the good discerns the good,\\nsays Mrs. Browning; and we paraphrase it and say,\\nOnly God discerns God.\\nIf God is to be known by us He must reveal Himself\\nto us; when He does this there is that in all men\\nwhich recognizes Him. There is never any difficulty\\nin determining what things belong to God and what to\\nman. The stars are God s work the frescoes in a cathe-\\ndral are man s work. Flowers are from the hands of God\\nimitations in wax and glass are made by man. Forests\\nevery autumn burn with the glory of God houses are\\nerected by man. In other words, we easily distinguish\\nsome things as human products and others as from\\na divine author. You find this idea of a Deity reveal-\\ning himself in the poems of Homer and in the hymns\\nof the Vedas. Browning s pagan was not the only\\none who has dreamed that God descended. To this ex-", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "8 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\npectancy in humaiiity He comes, aud is recognized\\nas God. However much some may insist that Jesus\\nChrist was only human, they never deny that His es-\\nsential spiritual characteristics were those of the Deity.\\nNo one by searching has found out God. We cannot\\nfind Him, but we may recognize Him. Is it reasonable\\nto suppose that all men would be created with facul-\\nties for discerning the Divine, and never be given an\\nopportunity for using them Eobert Browning teaches\\nthat the desire of all nations became reality in the\\nChristian revelation in Jesus Christ the supreme\\nand only adequate disclosure of Deity in terms of human\\nlife.\\nBut we are hardly more ignorant concerning Deity\\nthan concerning ourselves and yet we can never know\\nourselves by studying ourselves. We may learn some-\\nthing of what we are at one period of time, but we can-\\nnot learn what we were intended to be. If you find a\\nthousand pieces of china scattered by the roadside you\\nhave no conception of the beauty of a K-oyal Worcester\\nvase. If you study those pieces separately you may\\ndiscover that they are fragments of something artistic, but\\nyou must see the whole vase before you will have a vision\\nof the thing of beauty. Likewise if we would know\\nwhat we are ideally, we must have before our eyes some-\\nthing besides our own poor experience, with our failures,\\nmistakes, weaknesses, and often wilful wrong-doing.\\nIf we study ourselves we see fragments of manhood, or,\\nat best, manhood unfinished we do not see ourselves in\\nour possibilities and ideal relations.\\nIf a man ever knows himself he must be permitted to\\nsee if we may so speak the plan according to which\\nhe was made. And if we ever know God He must\\ncondescend to our limitations and within them reveal", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FBOM THE BROWNINGS. 9\\nHimself. If we ever know ourselves, our ideal selves must\\ncome to our actual selves in a form the reality of which\\ncannot be doubted. Cleon seems to have grasped this fact.\\nThe God who, to his imagination, descended showed\\nsimultaneously, that is, all at once, what could never\\nhave been understood if the truth had been given piece-\\nmeal. The illustration of the vase will help us once\\nmore. If one piece of china and then another are ex-\\namined the beauty of the whole design will never be\\nappreciated. For that the -peviect vase must be seen.\\nAnd so one noble desire, another holy aspiration, another\\nheroic act, will never make plain what we were really\\nintended to be the whole plan must needs be disclosed.\\nAnd then we are related to beings above us and to other\\nbeings around us. The lines which connect us with\\npersons and things above and around run away into\\ndarkness. Who shall tell whither they lead We\\nhave never yet been able to reach far into the mysteries j\\nthey elude discovery they are objects for revelation.\\nJesus Christ was a man, and yet a true Son of God.\\nHe was the typical man, what we were intended to be,\\nand what we will be when time and discipline have done\\ntheir work. He was also brother to all men He entered\\nfully and sympathetically into the human condition, and\\nthis shows that our true relation to our fellow-men is\\nthat of brothers. These simple truths could not be\\nmade plain in words they required to be expressed in\\nterms of life. Brotherhood even now is regarded, by\\nmany, as an iridescent dream but no one fails to ap-\\npreciate a warm-hearted, generous, self-denying brother.\\nWe speak of God but our eyes have never seen Him,\\nour ears have never heard Him, we cannot find Him,\\nbut He may come to us and make himself known. The\\nheathen hoped that He would do this; the Chris-", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "10 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\ntian says: He has done it. Jesus Christ is the ideal\\nman, and therefore all the revelation of God and of the\\nperfected race that it is possible for our poor faculties to\\ncompass. This Robert Browning teaches.\\nCleon dreamed of a God who would use men as instru-\\nments for all appointed work. That, also, is a thought\\nwhich is of the substance of the Christian revelation.\\nJesus taught that all men were intended to be what He\\nwas. Behind this teaching there is a profound philoso-\\nphy, since all that the world will know about Deity must\\ncome through man, or at least through something human.\\nIf God has a special speech of His own, in His inter-\\ncourse with men He must lay it aside and use our lan-\\nguage, because we cannot understand anything which is\\nnot human. Therefore men are the vehicles of all reve-\\nlations to men. The Bible is the word of God in so far\\nas that word could be written in a book, but only a\\nsmall part of it could be thus written. Divine revelation\\nhas to submit to human limitations. Whatever is re-\\nvealed of God, of the spiritual spheres, of the divine will,\\nmust be through the media of thought, words, deeds, or\\ncharacter, and these have no existence apart from human\\nbeings. Man is the organ the wind is from above, and\\ninspiration and revelation are the music which results\\nwhen the divine breath fills the human faculties but the\\nhuman faculties are as essential as the divine breath.\\nMen are God s agents in all inspiration. By inspira-\\ntion I mean not only the passion and vision of Isaiah,\\nPaul, and John, but all that leads others to think great\\nthoughts and undertake noble enterprises. General Gor-\\ndon was inspired in his wonderful achievements in\\nChina and when almost single-handed he withstood his\\nmurderers in the desert until his death at Khartoum.\\nAbraham Lincoln and Alexander of Russia were divinely", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "SPIBITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 11\\nguided to emancipate millions of slaves. rCaphael, when\\nhe painted the Madonna and the Transfiguration,\\nwas as truly inspired by the Almighty as John when\\nhe wrote the Apocalypse. All heroic endeavor shows\\ntraces of divine inspiration. Milton wrote Paradise\\nLost, Coleridge his Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale\\nof Chamouni, Browning his Cleon, Beethoven his\\nsonatas, and Angelo and Murillo painted their angels\\nand their saints, as they were moved by the spirit of\\nGod. When our Father would multiply pictures of the\\nglory of nature and man He brings artists into being\\nwhen He would fill the world with music He pours into\\nelect souls the echoes of heavenly harmonies when He\\nwould thrill men with song He gives to poets the vision\\nand the utterance divine. Cleon truly says, Men are\\nHis instruments for all appointed work.\\nAll divine purposes for men are achieved through\\nmen. When hoary evils are to be overthrown reformers\\nare raised up like Luther and Knox. Whirlwinds never\\nsweep away corrupt institutions, neither do they often\\nfall of themselves, but a few men have clear sight and\\nheroic courage, and these, seeing the evils which imperil\\nthe common weal, attack and destroy them. The prisons\\nof Europe were made to approach decency through the\\netforts of John Howard a man so full of holy love\\nthat it ran over in sacrificing service. Florence Night-\\ningale revolutionized the war-hospitals of Europe and\\nthus immensely diminished the horrors of war and she\\nwas only God s servant.\\nSometimes, probably, the Divine Spirit moves directly\\non human spirits, but, usually, if men are to be saved\\nsome man must take to them the Word of Life. Blood-\\nless and impalpable propositions never helped the race\\none step upward. Salvation is by man. Instead of", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "12 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nsilent influences from the invisible, missionaries have\\ntaken the Gospel to their fellow-men, and not infre-\\nquently the truth would have been meaningless without\\nthe messenger.\\nMunicipal abuses are corrected by no Pentecostal\\nmiracles. The wind may drive away the clouds and the\\nsun burn up vapors, but it required Octavia Hill and\\nJohn Kuskin to start the movement to secure better\\ndwellings for the poor of London; and Arnold Toynbee\\nand those who have come after him were needed to take\\nthe life of the universities to the slums of Whitechapel\\nand the East Side of New York. The holy city may\\ndescend out of heaven from God, but its walls will be\\ngarnished by those who have learned their craft in the\\nschool of earthly experience.\\nAs evils are to be reformed as the Holy Gospel is to\\nbe preached as better social conditions are to be created\\nby men, so also comfort and peace are to reach the deepest\\nindividual needs through human agencies. The Apoca-\\nlypse contains hints of a time when God will wipe away\\nall tears, and bind up broken hearts. Did it ever occur\\nto you that God s way of wiping away tears and binding\\nup hearts that are broken is by human hands or that\\nthe process has already begun It is going on even\\nnow, not by the direct touch of the Almighty, but by\\nmeans of the soft palms and loving influences of those\\nwhom we call brother and sister, father and mother, lover\\nand friend. This also is worthy of emphasis. There will\\nnever be peace among the nations until there is peace\\namong individuals and there will be peace among men\\nonly as those who have vision and strength minister to\\nthose who have not. The better days are surely com-\\ning evil will be overthrown the Word of Life will\\nreach into all lands; Hope in morning robes will drive", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 13\\ndespair into the outer darkness civilization and brother-\\nhood will take the places of barbarism and selfishness\\ntears and sorrow will disappear, and all this will be\\nachieved by the love in human hearts, the music in\\nhuman voices, and the strength of human arms. But\\nnow the question, at once practical and personal, arises\\nand presses for an answer If God does His Avork\\nthrough human beings, are we worthy to be used by Him\\nIf He should desire our help in destroying evil, are our\\nhearts pure enough, and our lives holy enough, for a ser-\\nvice so transcendent If He would have us speak of\\nChrist to others, will they see Him in us If words of\\ncomfort and peace are needed by those whose eyes are\\nfilled with tears, and whose hearts are breaking with\\nsorrow, are we sympathetic and genuine enough for so\\nholy a ministry\\nThese are some of the thoughts suggested as we study\\none brief passage from Robert Browning s Cleon, and\\ngo back of the poem to the Scripture on which it is\\nfounded, and read of the Word made flesh, who dwelt on\\nthe earth, full of grace and truth. The desire of all\\nnations is realized in God revealed not piecemeal or\\nin succession, but simultaneously, in the perfect\\nMan who is the type of all men and who has shown that\\nall are God s instruments for all appointed work.\\nII. THE SECRET OF SERVICE.\\nA Lesson from Mrs. Browning.\\nThe truths which I have traced in Eobert Brown-\\ning s Cleon find equally vivid though far different\\nexpression in the works of Mrs. Browning. The hus-\\nband was speculative and philosophical; the wife was\\nintense and practical. The husband wrote as one who", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "14 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nhad a mystery to be solved; the wife as one who had\\ndiscerned the only way in which a difficulty might be\\novercome and both alike as those who had learned that\\nthe revelation of God in terms of humanity throws the\\nonly light on the human problem which is really\\nluminous.\\nLeigh Hunt called Elizabeth Barrett Browning Ten-\\nnyson s sister. Some one else has called her Shake-\\nspeare s daughter. She was, I think, the greatest\\npoetess who has ever lived. It has been said that she\\nhad a soul of fire in a body of pearl. No one was ever\\nmore sensitive to sorrow and pain. She was like a harp,\\nand responded to the slightest breath of aspiration or of\\nsuffering. Her song was strong, clear, and sometimes\\nterribly intense; again, it was soft and sweet as love\\nitself. It was pervaded with trust in God and confi-\\ndence in the triumph of His kingdom. Concerning her\\nreligious faith, Mrs. Browning wrote to Leigh Hunt, I\\nbelieve in the divinity of Christ in the intensest sense,\\nthat He was God absolutely. But for the rest, I am\\nvery unorthodox about the spirit, the flesh, and the\\ndevil. Among her poems the longest is Aurora\\nLeigh, which is at once a novel, a social study, a poem,\\nand a glorious hymn to pure love. It has been called by\\nTaine the greatest long poem in the language greater\\neven than Paradise Lost. Others have regarded it as\\ncrude, unfinished, extravagant. I think it is one of the\\nfew really great poems of our English literature, and\\nthat means of the world s literature. Aurora was the\\ndaughter of a Florentine mother and an English father.\\nIn her childhood she was brought, an orphan, to England,\\nto live with an aunt who was critically formal and pre-\\ncise, and who little understood the impulsive girl who\\n1 Memoirs, p. xxxv.", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 15\\nloved beauty, and into whose soul had already gone the\\ntenderness of Italian skies and the sweetness of Italian\\nflowers. In that home was a cousin who in due time\\nloved Aurora, or dreamed that he did but he was absorbed\\nwith social schemes and wanted a wife to help him in his\\nwork. The proud and splendid woman loved in return,\\nbut would have no such love as was offered to her. They\\nseparated Romney Leigh oppressed by the weight of\\nthe world s misery, and thinking that Providence was\\ndependent for its alleviation on him Aurora to dream\\nher dreams and sing her songs, and to wait for her vindi-\\ncation in the future. After ten years, chastened by\\nmany failures and deep sorrows, they once more told\\ntheir love, and found that neither had ceased to long for\\nthe other. On this slender thread is strung wisdom,\\nwondrous poetry, and truth profounder than philosophies\\noften teach. Eomney, speaking of his work for the out-\\ncast, says\\nBut I, I sympathize with man, not God;\\nI think I was a man for chiefly this\\nAnd when I stand beside a dying bed,\\nIt s death to me.\\nAnd I, a man, as men are now, and not\\nAs men may be hereafter, feel with men\\nIn the agonizing present.\\nSuch identification with the sufferings of others is essen-\\ntial to good work for humanity. He who does not feel\\nanother s sorrows as if they were his own can never do\\nmuch in the way of-relief But what motive is strong\\nenough to inspire such identification with troubles not\\nour own This is the answer\\nThe hungry beggar boy\\nContains, himself, both flowers and firmaments,\\nAnd surging seas and aspeetable stars,", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "16 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nAnd all that we Avould push jjim out of sight\\nIn order to see nearer. Let us pray\\nGod s grace to keep God s image in repute.\\nTo see God s image in every man is to find inspiration\\nfor service that can never weary. Much effort at social\\namelioration is mere philanthropic dilettantism because\\npersons are confused with things. Aurora held that the\\nworst and weakest are children of God.\\nThe necessity of the incarnation in order that men may\\nbe reached and inspired with heavenly aspirations con-\\ndenses Mrs. Browning s philosophy and theology.\\nT is impossible\\nTo get at men excepting through their souls,\\nHowever open their carnivorous jaAvs\\nThe soul s the way. Not even Christ himself\\nCan save man else than as He holds man s soul\\nAnd therefore did He come into our flesh,\\nAs some wise hunter creeping on his knees\\nWith a torch, into the blackness of some cave.\\nTo face and quell the beast there, take the soul,\\nAnd 80 possess the whole man, body and soul.\\nI now quote the very heart of the poem as a social\\nstudy\\nThe man most man, with tendereet human hands,\\nWorks best for men, as God in Nazareth.\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0He paused upon the word, and then resumed\\nFewer programmes we who have no prescience.\\nFewer systems we who are held and do not hold.\\nLess mapping out of masses, to be saved\\nBy nations, or by sexes. Fourier s void.\\nAnd Comte is dwarfed, and Cabet puerile.\\nSubsists no law of life outside of life\\nNo perfect manners without Christian souls\\nThe Christ himself had been no Lawgiver,\\nUnless He had given the life, too, with the law.", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 17\\nThese noble teachings concerning the methods by\\nwhich the outcast and depraved are to be reached and\\nuplifted are but an elaboration of the second chapter of\\nHebrews. The man most man, with tenderest human\\nhands, works best for men, as God in Nazareth, is\\nan echo of earlier words. Mrs. Browning s social phil-\\nosophy is identical with the theology of the New Tes-\\ntament. It was necessary that the Saviour should be\\nmade like His brethren in order that He might show\\nwhat humanity is destined to be. God was in Christ;\\nand God in varying degrees is in all men. If we were\\nwhat we might be, and may be in the long, long future,\\nGod would be in us, as He was in Jesus.\\nJesus said He that hath seen me hath seen the\\nFather the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews\\nwrote It behooved Him in all things to be made like\\nunto His brethren. In other words, it was God s\\nduty to Himself to become man, for in no other way\\ncould He realize Himself. Man, not only one man, is\\ndesigned to be the highest revelation of God. That\\nmeans that Jesus Christ was the pattern of every\\nhungry beggar boy, every roue, and every tyrant\\nwith his foot on the divine image. Few of us have yet\\ndreamed how far Christ s teaching goes; and, perhaps,\\nstill fewer are ready to receive doctrines so radical and\\nrevolutionary.\\nWhat were we designed to be At this point Mrs.\\nBrowning is in agreement with her husband, only she\\nexpresses her views with more of intensity and passion.\\nJesus shows us in a human form what man must be when\\nGod possesses Him. God is love, and love manifests\\nitself in service. He sees one blind, and can no more\\nbe prevented from opening those eyes than the sun\\nfrom shining. He sees one burdened with guilt, and", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "18 SPIBITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\ncan no more be kept from saying Thy sins be forgiven\\nthee than the sun can be kept from burning up the\\nmists. God is love, and when He has a large place in\\na man that man has a hand for ragged children, as Guth-\\nrie had a head full of devices for the outcast poor, as\\nShaftesbury had a consuming desire for the emancipa-\\ntion of the slaves, as Wilberf orce had a heart breaking\\nfor those in sin, as John Wesley had. In the most un-\\nselfish and loving spirits we see hints of what humanity\\nwill sometime be. Jesus differs from other men in that\\nHe is as full a revelation of the divine as is possible in\\nhumanity. Every human being, according to ability and\\nopportunity, may be a medium for the manifestation of\\nGod. And more than this God has always been in\\nhumanity. Precisely as this truth is recognized are in-\\ndividuals inspired to heroic and holy service. Who is\\nthat wretch wallowing in vice and drunkenness Who\\nis that child in an environment which makes virtue im-\\npossible Who is that woman shivering, alone, swal-\\nlowing her tears, asking Which is more to be dreaded,\\nthe cold waters, or the colder hearts of those who will\\nnot see what is crushing me Just as he is, that\\ndrunkard has something divine in him. In that dirty,\\nboisterous boy is something which takes hold of Beth-\\nlehem, Calvary, and the throne of God, and which is\\ncapable of endless growth. That woman stained and\\nsoiled has been w^ronged, crushed by the ones who ought\\nto have protected her; she is an outcast from the social\\norder, but she is the sister of Mary, the Mother of Jesus,\\nthe Son of God. The Psalmist cried: Whither shall I\\nflee from Thy presence If I ascend up into heaven,\\nThou art there If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou\\nart there. If I take the Avings of the morning and\\ndwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 19\\nshall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold\\nme/\\nJesus goes a step farther. He teaches that the God who\\nis on the horizon of the sea, and in the abysses of the\\nunder world, is also in the depths of humanity that He\\nis in all, white and black, good and bad, educated and\\nignorant, and that the cross is the only adequate hint of\\nthe worth of a man. This I hold to be a vital truth, and\\none greatly needing emphasis. There is a diamond in\\nevery hungry beggar boy and in every polluted wreck\\nof manhood. Jesus in Himself is the revelation of what\\nin some far-off time all may become He is the altitude\\nwhich the race will reach in the fulness of the ages.\\nAlas, long-sufeering and most patient God,\\nThou need st be surelier God to bear with us\\nThan even to have made us Thou aspire, aspire\\nFrom henceforth for me Thou who hast thyself\\nEndured this fleshhood, knowing how, as a soaked\\nAnd sucking vesture, it would drag us down\\nAnd choke us in the melancholy Deep,\\nSustain me, that, with thee, I walk these waves\\nResisting breathe me upward, thou for me\\nAspiring, who art the way, the truth, the life\\nThat no truth henceforth seem indifferent.\\nNo way to truth laborious, and no life,\\nNot even this I live, intolerable.\\nNo one who is great in power alone can get near\\nenough to suffering human hearts to inspire them with\\naspirations for holiness. Why is a mother sympathetic\\nBecause her child is part of her very self. She car-\\nries its griefs as her own, and has travelled the way\\nalong which her loved one is walking. Who are the\\nmost helpful in sorrow Always those who have suf-\\nfered. My heart is breaking who are you that you\\npresume to advise me But, my friend, I have been", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "20 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nwhere you are myself last year I lost my fortune six\\nmonths ago I buried my wife three months ago I laid\\nmy little one by her mother s side. I am all alone and\\npoor, and I want to tell you that T have found these words\\ndivinely true He hath borne our griefs and carried our\\nsorrows. Community in sorrow opens the door at\\nonce. Come in, my brother. Show me the secret of\\nyour peace. Precisely because our elder Brother has\\nbeen where we are, and knows all the way in which we\\nmove, He has attraction and inspiration for us.\\nDoubts, like clouds from the nether abyss, sweep into\\nour horizon, and we cry, If God is, I cannot find Him\\nif forgiveness is possible, I cannot realize it if life is\\nanything but mockery, I cannot understand it. In the\\nmidst of our perplexity two liien come to us. One says\\nYou ought to put away those doubts. You are deny-\\ning the Saviour who died for you. The other says\\nBe patient, my brother, I have had experiences like\\nyours. Do not do anything rash wait to be led. I\\nknow there is no gloom more terrible than yours, for I\\nhave been in the same cloud but by and by the light will\\ndawn. Be sure of one thing if there is a God, and you\\nare really seeking Him, He will not allow you to fail\\nof finding Him. Which of these will be the more likely\\nto help us If God is to command our wills, dispel our\\ngriefs, and save us from our sins He must show that He\\nappreciates our difficulties. This the Christian revela-\\ntion teaches that He has done He was made perfect\\nthrough suffering. He was so hungry that He was\\ntempted to turn stones into bread so poor that He had\\nno house in which to sleep He lost friends by death\\nHe was whipped until His back ran blood He hung all\\nday with nails driven through His quivering flesh He\\nwas misunderstood, abused, lied about, and thus, having", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 21\\nbeen made like unto His brethren, He was fitted to be\\nnot only their sympathizing friend, but their Saviour.\\nSon of God, was ever grief like thine When the\\ndark days come, as come they sometime will, you will\\nrealize how divine is the music which eclioes among the\\nruins of your life, as you catch the accents of these sacred\\nwords, He hath borne our griefs. In all their afflic-\\ntions He was afflicted. But when I seek to be faithful\\nto truth, as I see it, I am met by abuse and shame it is\\nenough to discourage any one. Yes, but death did not\\nshake His loyalty to truth. I try to help others, and\\nfor love hate is returned. Yes, and so it was with Him\\nwho prayed for those who drove the nails. I am\\nutterly crushed by disappointment and anxiety, and no\\none cares. Yes, some one cares. He who is a man of\\nsorrows and acquainted with grief. He cares. I have\\nbeen interested to observe that this truth of the sympa-\\nthizing God appeals to men quite as much as to women.\\nPerhaps it is because they have quite as much need of\\nsympathy. A man s solitude sometimes seems more\\ndesolate than a woman s, possibly because he is less sen-\\nsitive to the reality of the Unseen.\\nThere is a God of all comfort because there has first\\nbeen a long-suffering and compassionate God. The real-\\nization of this fact is the coronation of the human expe-\\nrience. Because she appreciated this so intensely Mrs.\\nBrowning was able to write, in De Prof undis,\\nAnd having in thy life-depth thrown\\nBeing and suffering (which are one).\\nAs a child drops his pebble small\\nDown some deep well, and hears it fall\\nSmiling, so I. Thy days go on.\\nThis world is to be saved by life. The man mosi;\\nman, with tenderest human hands, works best for men,", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "22 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS,\\nas God in Nazareth. And how did God work in Naza-\\nreth By getting for Himself a lodgement in one per-\\nfect human heart and then living divinely within human\\nlimitations. Fewer programmes/ fewer systems.\\nSubsists no law of hfe outside of life\\nNo perfect manners without Christian souls\\nThe Christ Himself had been no Lawgiver,\\nUnless He had given the life, too, with the law.\\nFor weary ages philosophers had tried to solve the\\nproblems of misery, sin, and death many plans for in-\\ndividual and social improvement had been devised, and\\nas the result of the long process of speculation most\\nthinkers had come to believe that the mysteries were in-\\nsoluble that the best that any could do was to get\\nthrough the world with as little trouble to themselves\\nand as little annoyance to others as possible. Then\\nJesus Christ came with his new method of salvation by\\nlife. His plan was to impart His life to others. He se-\\nlected a dozen workingmen, kept them with Him until\\nthey had something of His spirit and vision told them\\nto do to others as He had done to them, and then closed\\nHis career by being put to death for loyalty to His great\\nlove. When compared with our ways of attempting\\nlarge enterprises His plan seems stupendous absurdity\\nbut how magnificently it has worked One life touched\\nother lives with its vitality and power; brooded over\\nthem until they were ready to do the same to others\\nthey reached still others and imparted to them what they\\nhad received, and the process has gone on ever since.\\nThe history of Christianity is the history of the growth\\nof the divine life into human lives and human society.\\nAn unknown Jew landed in Europe and began a move-\\nment which, quickly, was too big for Him to compass. He", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "SPIBITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BUOWNINGS. 23\\npreached to a few, but His words had wings. Many heard\\nthem and read them, and they in turn repeated the mes-\\nsage, and sped it along until the map of the civilized world\\nwas changed. This is the miracle of miracles. An appar-\\nently unknown, uneducated Jewish peasant, who, after\\na short, ignominious career was executed as a criminal,\\nhas become the centre and inspiration of a movement\\nwhich is filling the earth with light and love. The sun\\nrose on the world when Jesus was born. Where He is\\nfollowed mercy and justice walk hand in hand where He\\nis worshipped pure homes and gentle service make do-\\nmestic life beautiful where His words are heeded death\\nloses its depressing and bewildering power. The Incar-\\nnation teaches that God s method of salvation is by life.\\nWe may try to trace the movements of life, but it is as\\nindependent of our theories as tropical vines are of trel-\\nlises. We may think to shut it within some holy sym-\\nbol, but it will break in pieces the symbol as a growing\\nseed will split a rock. It is life that men need, the\\ntouch of living sympathy, the thrill of heavenly hope,\\ninspiration to noble service, the vision of eternal possi-\\nbilities, and this life always comes from above. We need\\nnot more sermons, but more men so genuine that lies\\nwill not stick to them. Not arguments for Christianity,\\nbut men in business and women in society pure as light,\\nsympathetic as love, honest as truth, human as Christ,\\nare the means by which this world is to be saved.\\nIt behooved Him in all things to be made like unto\\nHis brethren.\\nThe man most man, with tenderest human hands,\\nWorks best for men, as God in Nazareth.\\nHumanity has in it something divine; therefore no\\nservice for man is lost.", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "24 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nAll who have sinned and all who have suffered may\\nsee in Jesus Christ what they were intended to be, and\\nin Him they may see also the sympathy and sacrifice of\\nGod.\\nThe divine method of saving the world is by the im-\\npartation of life, and the growth of the kingdom of God\\nis the growth of that life into the hearts and lives of\\nmen.\\nMrs. Browning s faith in the reality of the incarnation\\nwas the result of her intense sensitiveness to the sor-\\nrows of humanity. Her sympathy was the prophecy of\\nthe victory of the love and compassion which she dis-\\ncerned at the heart of the universe. To her practical\\nmind the ideas of God and of the better time for the race\\nwere inseparably bound together. She could not even\\nimagine a Deity who would not reveal Himself to His\\nchildren crying in the darkness to know wherefore they\\nwere born.\\nIf this subject were always approached from the side\\nof human need, rather than from that of speculation^\\nthere would be few who would not reach Mrs. Browning s\\nconclusions.\\nIII. HALF TRUTHS AXD THE TRUTH.\\nA Lesson from Robert Browning.\\nI PROPOSE in this chapter to consider a subject which\\nis suggested with about equal emphasis in Eobert Brown-\\ning s Cleon and in Paul s sermon on Mars Hill. Paul\\nwas in Athens. About him were the remnants of the\\nmost wonderful civilization the world had seen. He\\nwas surrounded by descendants of philosophers, poets,\\nartists. In full view were the Acropolis and Parthenon.\\nSocrates had walked those streets, and under whispering", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 25\\ntrees near by Plato had led his disciples. In sight of\\nthe place where he stood may have been some of the\\ncreations of Phidias and certainly those very walls had\\nechoed with the impassioned appeals of Demosthenes and\\nthe polished periods of Pericles. Among such scenes\\nPaul found an altar with the inscription To an un-\\nknown god, and by a reference to it began his address\\non Mars Hill.\\nThere were several such altars in that city. Their\\norigin is not known. It is related that Epimenides put\\nan end to a plague, and therefore one may find at Athens\\naltars without the designation of a god by name. From\\nthis particular instance the general view may be derived\\nthat, on important occasions, when reference to a god\\nknown by name was wanting, as in public calamities of\\nwhich no definite god could be assigned as the author, in\\norder to honor or propitiate the god concerned by sacri-\\nfice, without lighting on a wrong one, altars were erected\\nwhich were destined and designated To an unknown\\ngod.\\nThe beginning of the sermon on Mars Hill was a\\nrecognition that there was an element of truth in pagan-\\nism. Paul went directly to the reality beneath the in-\\nscription. The first part of the sermon is a proclamation\\nof the God who was not discerned by the Athenians.\\nThe second part is a deduction from the first. If there\\nis one God who made heaven and earth and all the races\\nof men then all are related to Him, and should repent\\nand seek His favor. This declaration he clinched by\\nreference to one of the Greek poets, Aratos of Soli in\\nCilicia, in the third century before Christ, who said,\\nFor we are His offspring. The same sentence is\\nfound in the hymn of Cleanthes to Jupiter. The Athen-\\n1 Meyer s Commentar}", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "26 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nians had glimpses of the truth concerning God and of the\\nconsequent unity and brotherhood of the race, but those\\nglimpses were so dim as to exercise little influence on\\ncharacter. They were half truths, not the truth.\\nRobert Browning s Cleon, a part of which has\\nalready furnished us an important lesson, also illustrates\\nthe subject at the head of this chapter. We have pre-\\nviously observed the emphasis which Browning placed\\nupon the truth that if men ever realize their possible\\ndestiny it must be revealed to them in terms of life. In\\nother words, God Himself must manifest His purpose in\\nways intelligible to human understanding. After the\\nbrief but vital passage which touches on incarnation as\\nessential to revelation, we come to the heart of the poem.\\nCleon writes\\nThou askest\\nWhether I fear death less than dost thyself,\\nThe fortunate of men? For (writest thou)\\nThou leavest much behind, while I leave naught.\\nThy life stays in the poems men shall sing.\\nThe pictures men shall study while my life,\\nComplete and whole now in its power and joy,\\nDies altogether with my brain and arm,\\nIs lost indeed; since what survives myself\\nThe brazen statue to o erlook my grave.\\nSet on the promontory whicli I named.\\nAnd that some supple courtier of my heir\\nShall use its robed and sceptred arm, perhaps,\\nTo fix the rope to, which best drags it down.\\nI go then triumph thou, who dost not go\\nThus we are introduced to the question of the ages,\\nIf a man die, shall he live again? That pagan king\\nfeared death. He thought when he died nothing of him\\nwould remain because he possessed nothing but temporal", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 27\\npower. He even envied the poet whose songs would be\\nsung and pictures studied when his body should be dust.\\nIn man there s failure, only since he left\\nThe lower and inconscious forms of life.\\nWe struggle, fain to enlarge\\nOur bounded physical recipiency.\\nIncrease our power, supply fresh oil to life.\\nRepair the waste of age and sickness no.\\nIt skills not! life s inadequate to joy,\\nagree,\\nking with thy profound discouragement,\\nMost progress is most failure thou sayest well.\\nThis terrible sadness continues through a score or\\nmore of lines, and then nature begins to assert itself\\nI, I the feeling, thinking, acting man,\\nThe man who loved his life so overmuch,\\nSleep in my urn. It is so horrible,\\n1 dare at times imagine to my need\\nSome future state revealed to us by Zeus,\\nUnlimited in capability\\nFor joy, as this is in desire for joy.\\nTo seek which, the joy hunger forces us\\nBut no\\nZeus has not revealed it; and alas,\\nHe must have done so were it possible\\nLittle did Cleon dream that at that very time the life\\nbeyond death was being preached, and that there was\\neven then in G-reece one who had seen Him over whom\\ndeath had no power.\\nFarewell. And for the rest,\\nI cannot tell thy messenger aright\\nWhere to deliver what he bears of thine\\nTo one called Faulus we have heard his fame", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "28 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nIndeed if Christus be not one with him\\nI know not, nor am troubled much to know,\\nThou canst not think a mere barbarian Jew\\nAs Paulus proves to be, one circumcised,\\nHath access to a secret shut from us\\nThou wrongest our philosophy, O king.\\nIn stooping to inquire of such an one,\\nAs if his answer could impose at all\\nHe writeth, doth he? Well, and he may write.\\nOh, the Jew findeth scholars certain slaves\\nWho touched on this same isle, preached him and Christ\\nAnd (as I gathered from a bystander)\\nTheir doctrine could be held by no sane man.\\nThus the poem ends. In it Robert Browning has\\ngiven expression to the longing for religious certainty\\nwhich was evident in the whole heathen world to the\\ndesire for knowledge about God to the feeling that, if\\nHe exists, He must in some way manifest Himself to\\nthe deep and constant hunger of the soul to know\\nwhether death ends all, and to the self-confidence which\\nso often shuts the eyes to the light when the day really\\ndawns.\\nThe poem and the sermon on Mars Hill agree in recog-\\nnizing that the Athenians had some truth. They were\\nnot in total darkness. They were in night, but the stars\\nwere shining. Those altars to an unknown god indi-\\ncated a conviction of the reality of the invisible powers,\\nand were symbols of the longing of the race for God.\\nOther altars have borne witness to the same fact. On\\nSalisbury plains is Stonehenge, more marvellous than the\\nGothic splendor of the cathedral near by. In the centre\\nof that solemn relic of ancient days is an altar. What\\ndoes it signify That in some ruder time men believed\\nin God and feared Him. Unknown He was, or to Him\\nhuman beings would never have been sacrificed but the", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 29\\nhearts of men reached beyond their ignorance and said,\\nHe must exist. Wherever men have begun to think\\nthey have cried Oh, that I knew where T might find\\nHim That cry indicates possession of a fraction of\\nthe truth about the Deity.\\nThe sermon of Paul revolves around the hunger of the\\nsoul for God. The dominant thought of Eobert Brown-\\ning s poem is the equally persistent craving for knowl-\\nedge concerning what follows death. Can life be in-\\nadequate to joy, and there be no sphere in which joy is\\npossible Is it true that most progress is most\\nfailure What terrible pathos lurks in the question,\\nIf a man die, shall he live again When has it not\\nbeen asked Is there nothing for us but struggle, heart-\\nache, disappointment, a little gladness, and then a narrow\\nspace in the cold earth forever Protus asked Cleon\\nwhether a poet feared death as much as a king and the\\npoet answered that he had reason to fear it more. The\\nheart says, I dare imagine some future state revealed\\nto us but cold, hard fact simply says, Zeus has not\\nrevealed it.\\nThe subjects central in the sermon and the poem are\\nthe poles around which the history of the world has re-\\nvolved.\\nThe Athenians whom Paul addressed had a half\\ntruth the poet who speaks through Browning s words\\nhad also part of a truth his whole nature declared\\nthat life did not end at the grave, and yet, because he had\\nno surer evidence, he heeded not the inner voice.\\nHalf truths prove the truth. The crescent, as well as\\nthe moon at its full, shows that the moon exists. After\\na voyage of storm and fog the clouds lift and the hills of\\nIreland appear. Only a small part is seen, but the voy-\\nager could not be more confident that land has been", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "30 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nsighted if he saw the whole green isle. When Colum-\\nbus sought the new world his companions became dis-\\ncouraged and clamored for home. He kept them from\\nturning back until drift-wood was seen on the waters\\nthey Avere then as sure of the new continent as if they\\nhad seen it. Twenty miles at sea is a lighthouse. The\\nline of rocks is out of sight, but the lighthouse sends its\\ngleams far into the night and in fog the sound of its bell\\nnever ceases. The mariner knows where he is and what\\nto do because of the light and the bell.\\nThe crescent is only a part of the moon Ireland s\\ncoast-line is but a hint of Ireland drift-wood is not\\nmuch like the new world; and a lighthouse does not\\nresemble a long line of concealed rocks these are only\\nparts of truths, but they prove that reality lies behind\\nthem.\\nThe same principle holds in the moral and spiritual\\nspheres.\\nAs soon as men begin to think, they face the idea of\\nGod. It is imperfect only a vast shadow 5 but where\\nthere is shadow there must be substance. Where did the\\nthought of God first come from When did it appear\\nThere are indications that men have always had glimpses\\nof a supreme power or person. The savage sees a spirit\\nin the storm in lightning, the flashing of an eye and\\nhe hears a voice in reverberating thunder. Cicero said\\nthat what has been believed always and everywhere is\\nthe voice of the gods. A traveller catching sight of the\\nspires of Cologne Cathedral knows that there is something\\ngreat there, although he little dreams of the forests of\\npillars and statues which rise in sculj^tured splendor\\nbeneath. And we who everywhere see suggestions of love\\nlifted above the wretchedness and ignorance of human\\nlife are sure that within the darkness is a Person.", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 31\\nThe same reasoning applies to the idea of duty. The\\npeople never existed who did not believe that they ought\\nto do right and ought not to do wrong but the questions\\nWhat is right? and What is wrong? have had\\nwidely different answers. The Hindoo mother thought\\nit was right to throw her babe to the river-god the\\nSpartans thought it right to steal and wrong to be found\\nout; the Druids offered human sacrifices. Is there,\\nthen, no right Because ideals of duty differ, is truth\\na dream The Hindoo mother had only half the truth\\nshe was right in thinking she ought to obey the unseen\\npowers, but wrong in what she believed was required by\\nthem. The Chinese are right in honoring their ancestors,\\nbut they have not yet caught sight of the truth that God\\nis the Father of all. Men know that they ought to do right,\\ntherefore there is such a thing as right. A dozen soldiers\\nhear an order to charge they go ahead, each one doing\\nwhat he is trained to do. Because they act differently,\\nit does not follow that no order has been given. Men\\nhear the voice of conscience saying, Do right, and go\\nin a thousand different directions which only means\\nthat each is loyal to his own moral sense as he ought\\nto be. Different ideals of duty but emphasize the fact\\nthat beneath all of them is a unity in which they\\ncohere.\\nAnd now we approach the subject of life beyond the\\ngrave. The doctrine in some form has always and every-\\nwhere been held. The Egyptians believed it so did the\\nGreeks, the Romans, the ancient dwellers in Mexico, and\\nthe American Indians.\\nCleon said\\nI dare at times imagine to my need\\nSome future state revealed to us.", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "32 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nAn inner voice declares that we were made for some-\\nthing better than death. That voice will not be silenced.\\nWe make our philosophies and talk about returning to\\nthe All, as do flowers, leaves, forests but the voice within\\nsays, It cannot be. We hear the matchless music of\\nBeethoven s symphonies and ask, Will that music live\\nand thrill for a thousand years, even though Beethoven\\nhas long since returned to dust Is the man less than\\nhis art We look into the face of the Sistine Madonna\\nand inquire, Can Ave believe that that painting has won\\nadmiration for three centuries, while he who painted it\\nhas long since ceased to exist Was Raphael more\\nephemeral than the colors he mixed This question\\ncontains one-half the truth concerning immortality. It\\nis man crying, I cannot die there is lacking only the\\nresponse of the Divine voice, Thou shalt never die.\\nIt is impossible to think of an object unlike anything\\nwhich ever existed. The mind never actually creates.\\nImaginations are but reflections of realities.\\nThere have been in all ages and among all nations ideas\\nof God, of duty, of life unhindered by death where did\\nthey come from These thoughts, however faint, prove\\nthat behind each half truth is a corresponding truth.\\nOur little systems have their day,\\nThey have their day, and cease to be\\nThey are but broken lights of Thee,\\nAnd thou, O Lord, art more than they.\\nHalf truths and no more leave us in darkness. The\\nAthenian idea of an unknown God left room for the\\ndoctrine of many gods. In all the streams were\\nnymphs, in all the trees were dryads there was a god\\nfor the sea, another for war, another for love highest\\nof all was Zeus, and all the deities were at last subject", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 33\\nto the fateS; so that it is difficult to say what the Greek\\ntheology really was. The faith was full of poetry; it\\nglorified nature it did not lack reverence, but it lacked\\nconscience. Its votaries lived among glorious hills,\\nbeside swift rivers, near the far-resounding sea,\\nbeneath tender skies, and in a climate that wooed to\\nconstant dreams. There was in their religion no clear\\nidea of an Almighty who ruled in justice, and would\\nsurely cause holiness to prevail. They thought of\\nthemselves as possible friends, or enemies, of a thou-\\nsand divinities. They had a hint of the fact that they\\nwere the offspring of G-od, but there they halted and\\nthe result was sensualism.\\nTurn now to Browning s poem. Cleon felt within him-\\nself the thrills of immortal life. When his soul had a\\nchance to assert itself, it cried, I must live, aud con-\\ntinue to sing, and paint, and build, and make glad the\\nhearts of men but then the darkness closed, and, from\\nthe dream-tower that he had climbed, he cried\\nBut alas!\\nThe soul now climbs it just to perish there.\\nI agree,\\nO king, with thy profound discouragement,\\nWho seest the wider but to sigh the more,\\nMost progress is most failure thou sayest well.\\nWe are made to live, yet are condemned to die this\\nwas the conclusion of those who had no clear revelation\\nof God, and no light on the future, except the longing of\\ntheir own hearts.\\nIn a sense it is true that those who have only half\\ntruth are no better than those who have none. And yet\\nwe must discriminate, for no one has more than a partial\\nview of anything. It is not the fractional view which", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "does the harm, but mistaking that half for the whole.\\nThe spirit of man is always more than what he pos-\\nsesses. Many of the most heroic souls have had limited\\nknowledge. Men of action require intensity rather than\\nlargeness of vision. The question of how we use what\\nlight we have is more important than the amount which\\nhas dawned upon us.\\nThose who hold a part of a truth firmly, except in rare\\ncases, make up for lack of vision by positiveness of con-\\nviction. The bigots of all ages have been those who were\\ntrue to what they saw, and yet who saw but little.\\nThey have had glimpses of justice and none of love, or\\nof love and not of justice. They are usually good, but\\nseldom do good. Enthusiasts have wide visions, and are\\nfilled with great inspirations, but fanatics and bigots\\nusually compensate for lack of knowledge by dogmatic\\nassertion. The larger the view of God and the universe\\nthe finer and sweeter the life, and the nobler and more\\ninspiring the influence.\\nMost men hold to half truths instead of the truth be-\\ncause they are not willing to learn. Protus had heard of\\nPaul and Christ, and had asked his learned friend con-\\ncerning them. The king, realizing that he had nothing but\\npower, was willing to turn to any one who could give him\\nknowledge. The poet and philosopher disdained to receive\\nlight from the only source from which it could come\\nThou canst not think ti mere bai barian Jew,\\nAs Paulus proves to be, one circumcised,\\nHath access to a secret shut from us\\nNew truth comes only to the open mind. I would\\nrather be a heathen with mind and heart open than a\\nChristian with the windows of my soul closed. Paul\\npreached in Athens the doctrine of the eternal Father-", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 60\\nhood, of resurrection and life, and some mocked, and\\nothers said, We will hear you again. Cleon heard a\\ndivine voice in his soul declaring that he ought not to\\ndie, but he Avould not heed the message because it came\\nfrom a barbarian Jew.*\\nThere is a light which lighteth every man which\\ncometh into the world. Plato, Epictetus, Marcus Aure-\\nlius, and thousands of others have Avalked by that light.\\nThose who have truly sought have found what they\\nmost needed to know. Something in every soul speaks\\nof God, duty, and immortality. In all lands and times\\nmany have been true to the primal revelation. The\\ncondition of knowledge is willingness to learn. The\\nlast word has not been spoken concerning any great sub-\\nject. Truth does not change, but human apprehension and\\nexpression of it ought daily to be adjusted to the new con-\\nditions. We should say to all men, to all books, to all\\nnature, If you can tell me anything of God, of myself, of\\nduty, or of the hereafter, bring me your message If\\nthe Athenians had done this they would not have scorned\\nPaul. If Cleon had done this he might have found peace\\nat the hands even of a barbarian Jew. If the church\\nof E-ome had done this she would never have put her\\nhand on Galileo, or sent Giordano Bruno to the stake.\\nIf we, in our time, would do this we should say to all\\nheroic and consecrated investigators in all fields of in-\\nquiry We have no theories to exploit we desire only\\ntruth, let it come whence it will.\\nI am persuaded that we are on the eve of a day of\\ngreat spiritual disclosures. The unknown is constantly\\nopening its depths. The miraculous is becoming natural.\\nNo one would be surprised if the elixir of life were to be\\nfound and death forever banished. What next We\\nstand before the tremulous curtain which separates from", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "36 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nthe unseen universe, and would not greatly wonder if it\\nshould rise and reveal visions of which, as yet, we have\\nnot dreamed. Never was there more need of the open\\nheart and submissive will than now.\\nIf Paul were to return to the earth he would see that\\nhis doctrine of God has turned the kingdoms of the\\nworld upside down. It is not France of which Germany\\nis afraid, but the doctrine of Paul on Mars Hill. It was\\nnot the mob that overthrew the Empire in France,\\nbut the doctrine of Paul on Mars Hill. If Cleon were\\nto return, would he call Paul a barbarian Jew\\nand say of Jesus, His doctrine could be held by no\\nsane man He who is willing to learn finds truth.\\nHe who shuts his mind, whether he be orthodox Chris-\\ntian or heathen philosopher, is sure to shut the light\\nout, and with it the freedom and peace which come with\\ntruth.\\nWhat is truth Pilate s sneer has long been the\\nworld s inquiry. The answer of the Christian s Master\\nis, I am the truth. So far as He is yet understood,\\nhave the life, teaching, and influence of the Christ justi-\\nfied His claims Is He the truth There is only one\\ntest. Does He satisfy the needs of the human soul\\nDoes the deep within respond to the deep without\\nIs Jesus Christ the truth concerning God? Can there\\nbe a more satisfying conception of Deity than this In\\ninfinity and eternity He is revealed in Jesus Christ, who\\nwas full of love, tender as a mother, sympathizing with\\nthe needy and outcast, a being whose essential nature\\nimpels Him to bind up the broken-hearted, heal diseases,\\nforgive sins, and cause all things to work toward bless-\\ning. The transcendent and immanent Deity of the\\ntheologians, the absolute and unconditioned of the phi-\\nlosophers, in all that concerns His relations to His crea-", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS. 37\\ntiires is manifested in Jesus Christ-. This is tlie first\\nprinciple of the Christian revelation.\\nIs Jesns Christ the truth concerning duty? He said:\\nLove God with all thy heart, and love one another as I\\nhave loved you. He said, Whatsoever 3^e would that\\nmen should do to you, do ye even so to them. Is there\\none sin or vice, one social or moral disorder which would\\nnot be banished from the earth if His rule of love were\\nto be obeyed Has any philosophy of ethics ever gone\\ndeeper than this sentence of the Apostle, Love is the\\nfulfilling of the law\\nIs Jesus Christ the truth concerning what lies beyond\\nthe ^^rave He was buried death did not hold Him\\nHe arose in a form which human eyes recognized, and\\nheld communion with his old companions. In all things\\nHe was the type of humanity, He was the perfect Man\\nand therefore, as in His life and death He reveals God\\ndescending to man, so also in His resurrection He shows\\nman rising to communion with other spirits in the land\\nwhere there is no death.\\nDid Jesus Christ reveal all that will ever be known of\\nGod This we cannot believe. With the advance of\\nscience and the enlargement of experience, new ideals\\nof right and wrong will be uplifted. The standards will\\nrise as life expands. And He has not told us very\\nmuch about the future No, but He has furnished the\\nlight we need to live by, and our true course is to keep\\nclose to Him, waiting for further revelations.\\nDo you say, You have painted a beautiful picture,\\none that would satisfy if it were only true That is\\nthe very point of my argument. Because the Christian\\nrevelation does satisf}^, because it answers the eager and\\nirrepressible voices of the soul, because it meets the uni-\\nversal human longing with all that any need to know", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "/I-\\n88 SPIRITUAL LESSONS FROM THE BROWNINGS.\\nof God, duty, destiny, I insist that it is worthy to be\\ntrusted. There is no other court of apjjeal if this\\ndoes not certify truth then the race must remain forever\\nin darkness.\\nThe address of Paul and the poem of Browning em-\\nphasize great thoughts Half truths prove the truth, as\\nthe shadow the substance. Those who are content with\\nhalf truths might almost as well be in total darkness.\\nHe who would know much of spiritual things must keep\\nhis mind open. In our search for reality we are not left\\nto ourselves, we have the truth embodied in a Person,\\nand the race will always have the Spirit of Truth, who\\nforever and forever will lead into all truth. We move\\non toward the future with music in our hearts and a\\nsong on our lips, because we believe in our Father, God,\\nour Saviour, Christ, and in an immortality of constant\\ngrowth and ceaseless joy.\\n0^", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2105", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3358", "width": "2126", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3545", "width": "2196", "jp2-path": "spirituallessons00brad_0046.jp2"}}