the cultured world, we should get from writers of the second class a large part of the help and pleasure we now derive from the undoubted masters. The enthusiasm which has hitherto reserved itself for the rarest and most exquisite appeals, would remain, when these appeals had ceased, an enduring property of human nature; it would thirst for expression, for exercise, for activity, it would respond to the summons of less competent writers when no longer preoccupied with the works of their superiors. It would be very far from truth, and very far from falsehood also, to state the proposition thus: Life is so rich and great that even its poorer embodiments and presentations would recompense an earnest scrutiny. But the mind of man is disqualified to cope with this abundance; selection is indispensable; and we use literary genius as a kind of chalk or index to designate the objects of our study. Such an assertion would not be true; but, like many other assertions that are not true, it is instructive. The establishment of relations with elevated minds will always remain among the cardinal satisfactions and benefits of literature; but an advantage and distinction of equal, if not greater, force, is found in its capacity to awaken in the reader the true and beautiful mood, the reverent and docile temper, which could educe power and interest from slighter or inferior materials, and almost makes its own preeminence superfluous.

ARTICLE VI.

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE WORDS OF JESUS, ESPECIALLY OF HIS PARABLES.1

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE INNER LIFE OF JESUS.

BY PROFESSOR JULIUS A. BEWER, PH.D.

JESUS himself in his words, Jesus' inner life, the experiences of his soul as portrayed in his words,-that is the subject of the psychological study to which we will devote our attention. We are not now to determine the exact truth which Jesus meant to teach in his words, but rather to find out, if we can, what the experiences of his soul were, out of which these utterances were born. What were those strange and yet so real undercurrents of his spiritual life which come to the surface in his words? What psychical states do they presuppose?

Men have always wanted to know more about his inner life because they felt that here, if anywhere, must lie the secret of his personal charm. But they have not always kept in mind, that, if we would understand him well in this his deepest life, we must not bring dogmatic prejudice with us, but must try to understand him as a real son of man. For only thus can we ever gain a true conception of his inner life, of the beauty and also of the strength of his great soul. I believe that the parables of Jesus are of especially great importance for this study; for it is universally recognized that the pictures which a man uses to illustrate his ideas reveal quite faithfully the impressions which have been made on

1 Opening address delivered before the students of Oberlin Theological Seminary, September 24, 1903.

him by the world about him, especially if he uses them in a natural and not in an artificial manner. And thus we gather frequently the illustrations which a man employs, in order to find what influences have been at work to make him what he is; and so we see how this one is influenced by the mountains in the loftiness of his thoughts and the clearness of his vision; that one by the sea, which has written all its mysterious beauty and all its strong, resistless energy into his heart; and the other by the lowland, with its meadows and its flowers, with its woodlands and its streams. All have been influenced by their surroundings. But all have seen the sky and sun and moon and stars with different eyes and in different surroundings; have heard the birds and beasts, but not the same and not with the same emotions. And we know that when they begin to tell about all this they give us something of their inner life. How much more must this be true of Jesus; for the pictures which he paints in his parables are not mere illustrations as the average preacher uses them to-day, but part and parcel of his own experience, and thus must form a real contribution to the study of his inner life. He teaches only what he has experienced; and the power of his preaching lay in this, that even his illustrations were so completely blended with his experience that they reveal his very soul.1 We see not only Jesus' teaching, but Jesus himself, in his words, and especially in his parables.

His outer world is portrayed here, with the impressions it made on his sensitive mind. It is the world of the workingpeople, of whom he was one. The pictures of domestic life

1That is the great thing in Jesus, that he speaks only from his own experience, speaks of the ideas of God and of life which he has won in the struggle of his soul. And this is why his words are so full of tremendous power, because back of them lie the living experiences of the greatest of the children of men.

with its intimate family relations, of industrial and commercial life, of civil and national life,-all are painted with delicate grace. Everywhere,-in the field and in the town, in the yard and in the market, in the chamber and in the banquet-hall, among the farmers and the business men, the fishermen and the slaves, the publicans and Pharisees, he moved, and kept his eyes wide open; saw the actions of the judge and of the physician, of the housekeeper and of the servants, the relations of father and children, of friends and enemies, noticed the growth of the tree and the leavening of the dough, witnessed the joy and the sorrow of men, looked on man and on nature with open eyes and learned, and taught again what he had learned; for he discerned the underlying relations, and brought with clear vision, almost unconsciously, everything into relation to the great central truth which dominated all his thinking and his living,-the Kingdom of God.1

It would be of profound interest and importance to notice not merely what things in the world around him made an impression on him, but also what things did not impress him; for it is just as instructive to see what selections he did not make as to see what selections he did make. In both, a man's

1 We must, of course, not overlook how clearly Jesus has grasped the fundamental principles, and must be careful not to think that all pictures have taught him new truths. But that they made many a principle clearer to him, will appear as we proceed. He uses illustrations because he is always concrete. He uses no abstract forms of speech, because he is always personal. An abstract, philosophical thinker he has never been, and has never wanted to be; but he has recognized the fundamental principles of true religion with a clearness, and has enunciated them with a simplicity, which evidence unrivaled mastery; so simply and so plaiuly speaks only he who is a master of thought and expression. And nowhere do we look so deeply into the heart of this simple and yet so great Son of man as in his parables. He talks here, in the plain language of the people, of those pictures which dwelt in his mind, and out of the inexhaustible fountain of his soul flow those words which reveal his innermost self. See, also, Note I.

individuality reveals itself. But we dare not forget that our records of him are very fragmentary, that Jesus uttered many other words, and in all probability all of them no less striking than the words which are handed down in the Gospels; so that it is rather precarious to argue, from the absence of certain images in those speeches which we have of him, to their absence in the treasury of his mind. Still, a good many things are reasonably sure in this connection, and they repay a thorough study. But at present it is not so much our desire to trace the impression which the outward world made on him, however important and suggestive that may be, but rather to press deeper, and look with reverent eye into his very heart, in order that we may understand the better the great struggles of his soul.

It is remarkable with what simplicity he utters the deepest truths, as if they were self-evident! With what sublime tranquillity! The casual reader never notices that the marvelous peace and the hopeful joy are born out of great soul-struggles. We get a few glimpses of this soul-life when we see him struggling in Gethsemane, when he weeps over Jerusalem; but that his soul was burdened with deep anxiety and yet again filled with glorious hope, that it struggled fiercely in the great battle, is seldom noticed, because we see him ever victorious, and in the serene look of his eye and the quiet tone of his voice there is nothing of quivering anguish, nothing of despair. But his heart is full of confidence, because he has conquered!

"Every word that He speaks has been fiercely furnaced

In the blast of a soul that has struggled in earnest.”

His words help us much in our quest to understand his inner life, if we but ask the question What did they mean for him? not, What should they mean for us? What inner experiences