' 4. ]'h,m'}il,i'\<n,l
lility
(/////.— This virtue is "leet of manliness or
at the expense of loyalty to religious and moral principle (Mt 10^^). Christ honours the spirit of energy and enterprise in us, and blames the hiding of our talents and the misuse of our opportunities through diffidence or cowardice (Mt So""'-). The manly and energetic character of the centurion, as shown in his faith, was doubtless as pleasing to Jesus as the soldier's reverence and humbleness of address (Lk 7"). Humility or the fear of God should banish all unworthy fear. Christ's un- flinching exposure of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23) calls us to be courageous in adherence to truth and righteousness, and in view of evil and opposition, however powerful. It was a wholesome saying of the Rabbis : ' The disciple of the wise should have sufficient pride to stand in defence of the Law lie represents.' Self-assertion has therefore its legitimate sphere, and the ' salt ' of individuality in religion and in society should in nowise be lost. There is the danger, however, of exaggerating our own view and importance : ' it always needs much grace to see what other people are, and to keep a sense of moral proportion' (Denney, Expos. Gr. Test, on Ro 12"). In the adaptation of the Chris- tian Church to society, and to reconcile conflicting interests, it requires humility 'to adjust men in due order for the purposes of life ' (T. B. Strong's Christian Ethics, Bampton Lect. 1895, p. 127).
5. Hitmility and science. — Christ's interview with Nicodemus teaches that the assumption of know- ledge ('we know,' Jn 3^) may cover only ignorance and confusion. The 'wise and understanding' (Mt 11") receive no new light: self-satisfied pride and prejudice are the foes of spiritual enlighten- ment and intellectual advance. The true student and investigator of nature must still feel, like Newton, that, notwithstanding his progress and attainments, the great ocean of truth lies undis- covered before him. Docility, not dogmatism, is the mark of the inquirer, and the means of intel- lectual development. In this important and ever- clianging region of science, R. H. Hutton has well observed that humility 'means the docility of learners towards a teacher infinitely above them,' and that it requires vdsdom to see the true rela- tions between ditt'erent kinds of knowledge, and to keep physical kno^vledge from being turned to a faUr aiel ihiii-croiis use in the sphere of moral tiMlh. Ill IV :il-o III.' master of truth and know-
I, .,!-(■ inn I l:ll^.■ ilii' |il. f a servant, and illus-
tralrliis -i.iitm-- li\ his humility — 'and science
ignorance alike to help othiT mi'U .ami not to lord it over them' (Essay <>ii ' 'i'ln- Humility of Sciemc' \n Aspects of RcUgiviisiind SiinitiJiiTlioiifiht, UlUl). So manifold is the function of this indispensable and crowning grace. T.iTKnATi'RE.— Be<:ides worlrs ntiove named, rjrimm-Thayer's
siori of our l-orrl'); Danle,
Browning's exquisite little poem, 'Humility' (^soMnrfo); Kip- ling's .Recessional. ^^' '** TJ . ".Fw*r
W. M. Rankin.
HUMOUR
HUNGER
761
which lets a man see what Plato calls ' the wliole tragedy and comedy of life' {Philebus, 50 B) — the one in the other, comedy in tragedy, tragedy in comedy.
The Gospels make it plain that the environment of Jesus was quite a normal one. He had lived among men, worked, played, and talked with men from infancy to manhood, and was familiar with the language of men and with their habits of mind. Hence it may be noticed that in speaking to men He uses the language of reality and experience. His words are stamped as His o-\vn by their delicate ease, which implies sen.sibility to every real aspect of the matter in hand, a sense of mastery and peace. There lay a broad contrast be- tween the common sense His hearers had gathered from experience and tlic wwxA idi-als which He propounded, and it is ijuili' clr.ir th:il (his contrast did not escape Him, nur can lli lia,v(.' failed to see that, judged by the ordiiiuiv cdimnon sense of men, His sayings were absurd. VVith this consciousness of the superticial absurdity and the underlying value of what He said. He bade men when smitten on the one cheek ' turn the other ' (Mt 5^), go ' two miles ' with the man who exacted one (v.'"), yield the cloak to him who took the coat (v.'"'), — in fact, His followers were asked to be ' lambs,' missionaries ' among wolves ' (Mt lO^", Lk 10"), and to ' leap for joy ' when they were ill treated (Lk 6-''). In all these sayings there is obvious contradiction between the surface value and the thought beneath.
Again, there Ls abundant evidence of the use of the grotesque by Jesus— a use natural to homely and friendly talk. Would a father, for example, offer a hungry chUd a stone instead of bread, a snake instead of a fish, a .scorpion instead of an egg (Mt 7"- '», Lk 11"- 12) ? The Pharisee, He says, is like a man who cleans the outside of his c\ip and forgets that he drinks from the inside (Mt 23^). Do men, He asks, 'gather irrn]ies of thorns, or figs of thistles'? (Mt 7"). Up m-.-, \\U lioarers not to cast their ' pearls before >\\iiH ' (Mi 7''). The idea of having 'a beam in oth's nwn i ye' is grotesque, as He meant it to be (Mt 7-"^). \\ hen He bade His hearers take no care for tlie ukutcjw, because caring for the morrow was the distinguishing mark of the Gentile as contrasted with tlie Jew (Mt G''=), He spoke with full l^Il^^vl.■.l,-l■ ..f . I, 'wish .lianu-ter, and must ha\c kniiwii lli.il His lir.n. ix would smile. 'Doniil r\.'n lln' |.ulilic;in> suV' i Ml ">'"), is an instance of /-.(///f/fo ,/ on the Saliliiilli .I.in- I. (Lk6''), was, llis,.,ii„s absuril qncsthin, i'\((|il, dilemma. Siniil.nly, [>> if he had kejit I Im' cniiiin kill,' etc., nuisl h.n i- si and Jesus can lianlh lia 10'"). The siiiiik' Ihal the needle's eye, show s again (Mk lO'-'^). It sh Jesus' hearers were nol teadiing given in ironic