[Rev. Franklin D. Elmer in Christian Register.]

Pharisees are poor scholars. Jesus failed to win the learned men of his time because they stubbornly set their minds against a progressive revelation. Their ideal of a Messiah was one who should satisfy ancient interpretations of prophetic Scripture. In his sermon on the mount, where Jesus announces the principles of the kingdom, he repeatedly uses the expression, "Ye have heard ... but I say." The Pharisees were satisfied to stop at "Ye have heard." The kingdom, declared Jesus, in all its phases of growth is like nature, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear;" therefore, while conserving the old, be ready to receive that which out of the old becomes new. He also taught his disciples that new truth, because of its dynamic energy, might be expected to break old bottles.

What a sorry world this would have been had the pharisaic spirit prevailed against the progress of truth. The joyful religion of our time is based on the fatherhood of God. "The Lord is my shepherd." sang David; "Like as a father," said the prophets; but in Jesus' confession, "my Father," and in his assertions, "your Father," there burst over the hearts of men a flood of prodigious love not unmixed with a mighty awe which has transformed our thought. Out of this conception of the immanent Father there develops in the Master's teaching the truth of the abundant life which knows no death; as Paul writes, "Who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Surely no Christian would be willing to part with this priceless heritage, but we are prone to neglect Jesus' injunction to continue in his school. If he should come now with the truth translated into terms of the day, there would not lack enemies of the truth, to deny, to blaspheme, to kill. "I have yet many things to say unto you." "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." To refuse to seek or accept the highest form of truth is sin. We are thereby under the judgment define by John, "that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." Tremendous importance attaches to our attitude toward the instructions of the Spirit. Jesus was careful to say, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Herein is our permanent test of unfolding revelation. Does that which styles itself new truth fulfil his principles, grow up out of the same stock, appear a branch of the vine?

[Watchman.]

In the midst of all Christmas reminders one of the chiefest ought to be that we are not as fully in harmony as we ought to be with the spirit of that song that the peace-loving shepherds reported. If we should celebrate Washington's or Lincoln's birthday in a manner to divert attention from their real spirit and mission, we might gradually fall away from the high ideals of patriotism and freedom that they strove to realize. Are we in danger of putting too much display and of various forms of festivity into our observance of Christ's birthday? The rivalry among the merchants of every class is to make the most brilliant display of their wares and to reap the largest possible financial profit. What is the corresponding rivalry among the churches and Sunday schools? Are we as anxious to give as we are to get, and as eager to impart happiness as to experience it? Such a question might seem ungracious in the midst of all the Christmas cheer. There is overflowing good will on every hand. But this very excess of joy may make us overlook the wretchedness that abounds, and our fondness for the circumstance and pomp of military splendor may make us forget that the Christ was essentially the embodiment of love, and that his kingdom is a kingdom of peace.

[Christian Commonwealth.]

There is little doubt that the difficulties of the ministry at the present time are very great. The decline in the church-going habit, the multiplication of all sorts of distractions, make it more and more difficult to carry on the work of the church, while the inevitable theological and Biblical discussions are loosening the hold of many people on religious organizations without always giving them other spiritual anchorage. These difficulties, however, will come to the true minister as opportunities. We believe there never was a more glorious opportunity for the man who is mentally alive and eager for knowledge, who is spiritually in earnest and knows the realities of divine communion, and who is wise enough to keep in close touch with men. "Close to God and close to man" should be the minister's motto. The pulpit is by no means defunct. Some of its old assumptions are gone. But let the man in it have an open, active mind, a heart that touches the depths of human experience, a spirit that at least has moments of that wonderful illumination in which the union of the soul with God is realized, and a lovable nearness to his fellow men, and he will find large numbers still who will seek his help and respond to his appeal.

[Rev. Charles Stelzle in Christian Work and Evangelist.]

It should be recognized that the Bible is not a book of mere statements. It is a historical account of certain developments in the life of particular persons and nations, although it does contain doctrinal teaching. It also presents commands and promises which were given by inspired men of old. It should be remembered, however, that the moral and ethical standards of Abraham's time, for instance, would not, in some respects, satisfy God's demands in the twentieth century, with its greater advantages and opportunities. One can readily see that it is not always fair to quote Scripture in order to "prove" that one is right. Fortunately, God has made the way so plain that any man may know what is his duty toward God and toward his fellow man. But frequently it will require the most sincere and the most reverent searching after the truth to know the mind of God. This is not given to the flippant disputant, who has only his own ends to serve. The Bible is a book well worth our most careful study.

[Christian World.]

The world is in desperate need of religion today; in need of the power that, entering into every separate man, shall bring his best to the top and keep his worst underfoot; that shall revivify his conscience and secure him courage and comfort in his difficult world. Let the church, rid of its dead weight of incumbrance, fired with a message in which it believes and which it can make others believe, begin again on its campaign; and we shall see it no longer a standstill in a world of movement, but sweeping through the earth as at once the swiftest as well as the deepest of the forces that move the hearts of men.

[Universalist Leader.]

The anarchy of human hate and revenge always lives next door to the man who is annoyed at the prosperity of his brother. The climax of this folly is reached when the moral beauty and goodness of one man only increases the anger of another. Few things reveal a deeper depravity in human experience than the statement of Iago about Michael Cassio, "He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly." When a man arrives at the point where the sweetness of another soul curdles his own, he is in a desperate condition.