Article February 16, 1907 Issue

THE BIBLE ILLUMINED

EDWARD KENNEDY

THE Bible has never meant so much to me before as it has during the past year, and especially during the past few months. A larger sense of self-reliance seems to be growing up within me, to which each passing month and experience adds something, and this growth seems to come with a larger and better understanding and appreciation of Science and Health, and also of the wonderful characters of Bible history. I have recently thought that it must have been a condition approaching to holiness which caused Noah to discern so clearly the workings of mortal mind, foresee its legitimate consequences, and know definitely the time when these would appear. There is no record that he spent any time in disputing with his neighbors, but that he continued in diligent obedience to the divine command until the ark of safety was complete. The same lesson appears in the beautiful story of Joseph, who never let go of his hold upon God, good. So clearly did he discern the thought of his time, that he not only foretold the nature of the punishment which error was bringing upon itself, and the time of its occurrence, but he also discerned the length of the chastening experience needed to bring human thought again into touch with abundance.

I have also gathered some wonderful things from a study of Jacob's life and experience. The time was when I presumed to criticise Jacob, and to look upon him as a sort of opportunist, one who was ready to take advantage of any circumstance which would be to his own advancement, even at the expense of a helpless brother; but I have learned to consider him one of the sterling characters in Bible history, divinely led and protected throughout all his experience, and the only one of his particular period who was fitted to receive the blessing and become a father in Israel.

His brother Esau was a wild huntsman, a man of the forest; skilled in the craft of trailing his prey, and no doubt delighting in an opportunity to measure his animal strength with theirs. Jacob, on the contrary, was a quiet man, a man of domestic habits and home pursuits, taking pleasure in the work of the field, all the while dwelling in thought upon the problems of being, and as the years went by getting closer and closer to God. Jacob's mother knew of his coming greatness, because, having inquired of Mind, she became conscious of the Divine presence, and in that exalted condition of thought was told that "the elder shall serve the younger."

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