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thee " (Deut. viii. 5). It was this, above all, that they were ignorant of. They mistook the chastening of a father for the wounds of an enemy.
2. Their ignorance was due also to want of consideration — My people doth not consider." (1) He would have them stop and think. When the rich young ruler came running to Jesus — " Master, what shall I do ? " — He stopped him. " Why callest thou me good ? " Stop and think. When the Pharisees spoke glibly about the Messiah being David's son. He recalled the 110th Psalm, where David calls the Messiah his Lord. " How can he be both son and Lord ? " He said. Stop and think. (2) It is want of consideration that makes men miss Christ. For the most part they simply pass Him by, they do not consider Him. " Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? " (Lam. i. 12). (3) It is want of consideration that makes men lose life itself. They do not know what life is. They do not know that they have lost it. (4) But consideration of God brings considerateness for man. The two great commandments must always be kept in their right order : first, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," next, " Thy neighbour as thyself." It was because Israel rebelled against God that they neglected the poor and the fatherless. It is to those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious that St. Paul writes : " Let your con- siderateness be known unto all men " (Phil. iv. 5).
II It was Israel's lack of perception that was at the root of her sins. Ibsen, in the study of the tragedy of a lost soul in Peer Gynt, teaches that God meant something when He made each one of us, and that it is our duty to find out what He did mean. The devil's staunchest ally is lack of perception.
When at the end of his career Peer Gynt, who is the type of a compromising self-seeker, meets the button-moulder, who tells him it is his fate to be cast into the melting-pot, this dialogue ensues. {Peer Gynt, Act v. 9.)
Peer. One question only : What is it, at bottom, this " being oneself"?
Button-Moulder. A singular question, most odd in the mouth of a man who just now
Peer. Come, a straightforward answer.
Button-Moulder. To be oneself is : to slay oneself. But on you that answer is doubtless lost, and therefore we'll say : to
ISAIAH 7
stand forth everywhere with Master's intention displayed like a signboard.
Peer. But suppose a man never has come to know what Master meant with him ?
Button- Moulder. He must divine it.
Peer. But how often are divinings beside the mark — then one is carried ad undas in middle career.
Button- Moulder. That is certain, Peer Gynt; in default of divining, the cloven-hoofed gentleman finds his best hook.
Learning to do Well.
Literature.
Hodgson (A. P.), Thoughts for the King's Children, 165. Jerdan (C), Messages to the Children, 371. Morris (R. E.), in Welsh Pulpit of To-day, 295. Keble (J.), Sermons for the Christian Year, Advent — Christmas, 424, 435, 446.
Parker (J.), Peopys Bible, xiv. 206.
Watkinson (W. L.), The Bane and the Antidote, 165.
Christian World Pulpit, xxi. 228 (Beecher). xxix. 83 (Burney).
Learning to do Well.
Learn to do well.— i. 17.
How is man to be distinguished from the lower animals ? Man has been called a laughing animal. But do not the apes also laugh, says Carlyle, or attempt to do it ? Nor is Carlyle content with the Frenchman's definition that man is the cooking animal. His own definition is that man is the tool-using animal.^ But how will it do to describe him as the being who learns ? This is Watkinson's definition.^ Other creatures, he says, can scarcely be said to learn ; whatever pertains to their species they do immediately, instinctively, perfectly. " A lark builds its first nest as skilfully as its last, a spider's first embroidery is as exquisite as anything it spins in adult life, whilst a bee constructs its first cell and compounds its first honey, with an efficiency that leaves nothing to be desired." It is altogether different with human beings ; they have every- thing to learn.
L
What have we to learn?
1. We have to learn how to make the best use of the hodi/. Hitherto the development of the body has been done mostly out of school ; it has been left to the playground. But now some attention is being given to physical training. And we are even beginning to give our boys an opportunity of learning a trade at school. However it is done, we must learn to use the body.
2. We must also educate the mind. We have to learn in order to know, to remember, to appreciate literature and art, to make decisions in the conduct of life.
' Sartor ResartuSf ch. v. * l^hc Bane and the Antidote, p. 169.
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12 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
3. Do we stop there ? Is the highest aim of education achieved when we possess " a sound mind in a sound body " ? What about the Soul ? Besides learning a trade, besides learning to read and to understand what we read, have we not also to learn to do well ?