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THE LARGER VISION 
 
 BY 
 A. R. LAMBERT 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 
 1913 
 

 
 
 v_> 
 
 SHEBMAN, 
 
TO THE "HELPMEET" OF THE YEARS OF A 
 BUSY LIFE, WHOSE WISE COUNSELS HAVE 
 FURNISHED SOLUTION TO VEXED PROBLEMS; 
 WHOSE FAITH IN HER HUSBAND HAS STIMU- 
 LATED THE HIGHEST ENDEAVORS: WHOSE 
 CHEERFUL SPIRIT HAS DRIVEN DULL CARE 
 TO THE WINDS; WHOSE LOVE HAS BEEN AS 
 AN EVANGEL OF HOPE; WHOSE UTTER CONSE- 
 CRATION TO THE COMFORTS OF THE ROOF- 
 TREE HAS MADE THE HOME A RETREAT FROM 
 THE TOILS AND INQUIETUDES OF LIFE 
 TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Through the years of my ministry I have 
 sought to be a close observer of men and things 
 noting the trend of the times. 
 
 I have not failed to appreciate the introduc- 
 tion of multiplied, multiform labor-saving de- 
 vices ; the increase in philanthropic movements 
 men of large means who have caught the 
 spirit of the declaration " the time is near at 
 hand when it will be regarded a sin for a man 
 to die rich," a sentiment in keeping with the 
 thought of the Master, who declared : " The 
 poor ye have always with you " reference be- 
 ing had to the unfortunate and impotent of 
 earth; the gradual disappearance of the hated 
 system of " caste," and the swinging of the pen- 
 dulum of human thought in the direction of the 
 democracy of the people. 
 
 The introduction of reform movements, look- 
 ing towards the elimination of vice, graft, and 
 greed in the body politic ; the placing of the 
 stamp of public disapproval upon the practice 
 of polygamous cohabitation, the " white slave 
 traffic," and the utter annihilation of the great- 
 est curse of the ages, the liquor traffic; the 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 opening, one by one, of the doors of the heathen 
 world, admitting the ambassadors of Jesus 
 Christ; the displacement of monarchial forms 
 of government by newly born republics all 
 these things have branded as false the state- 
 ment, oft repeated, that " the world is growing 
 worse," and stressed the truth that the world is 
 growing better. 
 
 " The apostles of despondency and com- 
 plaint " are retreating before the oncoming 
 spirit of optimism : " God is in his heaven, the 
 world's all right." 
 
 As a result, in large part, of these observa- 
 tions, I have become an out-and-out optimist, 
 and have found myself possessed of the larger 
 vision ; my study of the word of God has led me 
 to see and feel that God is not " a blind force, 
 making for righteousness," but an all-wise and 
 loving heavenly Father, who takes note of the 
 end of life from the beginning, making the am- 
 plest provision therefor. 
 
 The old book has thus become a new book to 
 me, for I have found myself crying out, again 
 and again, in the language of the inspired 
 writer : " Open thou mine eyes that I may be- 
 hold wondrous things out of thy law." And 
 as a result the sublime symbolism of the Bi- 
 ble has assumed, not a poetical significance 
 rather the opening up of new vistas of eternal 
 verities. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Red seas of opposition have but emphasized 
 passageways over which God's children may 
 pass " dry shod." Fiery furnaces have but 
 stressed the keeping power of God. Mountain 
 tops, surrounded by the horses and chariots 
 of the enemy, have furnished an emphasis of the 
 need of " opened eyes," and the recognition of 
 the fact that " they that be for us are more than 
 they which be against us." Storm-tossed Gen- 
 es sarets have but directed my thought to the 
 presence of Him whose voice rocks the winds 
 and waves of adverse experiences to sleep. 
 Hungry multitudes have become suggestive of 
 that multiplying power, providing enough and 
 to spare. The day seems drawing nigh when 
 the words of the poet-prophet shall be fulfilled 
 when 
 
 " Jesus shall reign, where'er the sun 
 Does his successive journeys run; 
 His kingdom spread from shore to shore, 
 Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 
 
 In a word, running through all the messages 
 of my ministry, of which these contained in this 
 volume are a part, will be found " the golden 
 thread of optimism," the larger vision; and in 
 the hope that others may catch this spirit, I 
 send them forth trusting and unafraid. 
 
 A. R. L. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I THE LARGER VISION 1 
 
 II THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE . . .17 
 
 III UNSEEN FORCES 33 
 
 IV WITH STARS AS TEACHERS . . .51 
 
 V THE REGAL SPIRIT 67 
 
 VI SPIRITUAL POISE 83 
 
 VII THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION . . 99 
 
 VIII THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST . 117 
 
 IX "THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH" . 133 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
" The inventor multiplies the faculties of life, 
 but the poet makes life better worth living." 
 
 CURTIS] 
 
 " There is but one Raphael, and no second ; but 
 a thousand lesser artists, looking up to him, are 
 lifted to his level/' 
 
 HIL-LIS. 
 
 " Truth tyrannizes over the unwilling members 
 of the body. No man need be deceived who will 
 study the changes of expression. When a man 
 speaks the truth, in the spirit of truth, his eye is as 
 clear as the heavens. When he has base ends and 
 speaks falsely, the eye is muddy and sometimes 
 asquint." 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 " But we all, with open face beholding as in a 
 glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
 same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
 spirit of the Lord." 
 
 ST. PAUL. 
 
I 
 
 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 " Among a thousand men who talk, but one 
 thinks; among a thousand men who think, but one 
 sees." 
 
 Out from this comparatively small number of 
 men who see, have gone the builders of nations, 
 the founders of empires, the discoverers of new 
 worlds, the prophets of God, the benefactors of 
 the race, and the Saviour of a lost world ; in a 
 word, the sum total of human success and 
 human happiness is bound up in the lives of men 
 who see who have the larger vision. 
 
 It goes without saying, therefore, that one of 
 the most inspiring pastimes is that of tracing 
 the footsteps of these leaders of men. 
 
 I. WORLD LEADERS 
 
 Over yonder I see one of these world leaders 
 gazing upon jets of steam, emanating from a 
 teakettle. 
 
 A thousand other men had noted the same 
 thing; had thought about it, and spoken of it, 
 
 in commonplace terms, without result. 
 
 1 
 
2 : TIffi LARGER VISION 
 
 But as this one man looks upon it, he gets a 
 vision in which he beholds the old-fashioned 
 stage coach giving way to the iron horse, thun- 
 dering out across the plains; and the slow-sail- 
 ing wind vessel giving way to the ocean liner, 
 down in whose engine-room he beholds a mighty 
 Corliss engine, the expansion of whose lungs of 
 steel sends the great liner plowing through the 
 waves of the deep in the very teeth of the tem- 
 pest; sees the wheels of human industry turned 
 by the potent arm of steam power, and Franklin 
 has succeeded in completely revolutionizing the 
 commercial world. 
 
 Lying prone upon the earth under an apple 
 tree one summer's day, his head propped up by 
 his hands, one of these world leaders was deeply 
 absorbed in thought, when suddenly a gentle 
 breeze loosed an apple from its stem, and falling 
 earthward, the apple smote him on the head. 
 
 Perhaps a thousand other men might have had 
 a similar experience, only to have entertained 
 thoughts and given utterance to expressions 
 which would not look well in print. 
 
 But this one man had a vision, and leaping to 
 his feet, unmindful of the impact of the apple, 
 cried out : " Eureka, I have found it," and as 
 he walks forth I see in his hand the key of 
 gravitation, in the use of which have been un- 
 locked all the doors of the physical universe, 
 
THE LARGER VISION 3 
 
 " doors of oak, doors of brass, doors of iron," 
 cluster systems, group systems, planet systems, 
 world systems, sun systems, all open. Newton 
 has succeeded in wresting down to earth the se- 
 crets of the stars. 
 
 I see still another world leader walking the 
 shores of sunny Italy, noting a bit of strange 
 driftwood lying on the shore. 
 
 A thousand other men might have witnessed 
 a similar sight, and perhaps with little thought 
 or casual reference, passed on. But as Colum- 
 bus looks upon the driftwood, he gets a vision, 
 and forthwith goes forth to discover a new 
 world. 
 
 Inspiring, however, as is the pastime of 
 tracing the footsteps of men of vision in the 
 temporal world, still more so is that belonging 
 to the spiritual realm. 
 
 See, then, yonder monk of Erfurt, reclining 
 on the spiral stairway perusing the word of God, 
 suddenly leaping to his feet, his face all aglow 
 with a floodtide of illumination surging up 
 through brain and heart, exclaiming : " The 
 just shall live by faith," and going forth to nail 
 against the Wittenburg chapel door his ninety- 
 five theses, literally a protest against spiritual 
 apostasy, the outrageous practice of " indul- 
 gences," which became the battering ram of 
 Jehovah's vengeance, shaking the decaying 
 
4 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Roman empire from center to circumference, 
 and Protestantism was born. 
 
 Or see out yonder on the plains at night a 
 refuge, a supplanter, a man dominated by self- 
 centered motives, who has selected the earth for 
 his bed, a stone for his pillow, and the star- 
 spangled canopy of the heavens for a covering. 
 And as he sleeps, he has a dream has a vision 
 
 in which he beholds a ladder set upon the 
 earth, whose top reaches to heaven ; and behold, 
 angels were ascending, bearing petitions from 
 sin-burdened souls heavenward and angels 
 descending were bearing back from the throne 
 of God answers of joy and peace a revela- 
 tion of the possibility of a sin estranged race 
 becoming reconciled to a justly offended God. 
 
 And a little later see this world leader testing 
 out that vision, wrestling all night with one of 
 these angels ; and when the dawn broke, the 
 angel said to him, " Let me go, for the day 
 breaketh." And this man, engaged, not in 
 " wresting down the secrets of the stars," but 
 rather that greater wealth of possession, the 
 secret of the mind and heart of God, cried out, 
 " I will not let thee go unless thou bless me " 
 
 that is unless thou introduce me to the King 
 of Heaven, that I may become reconciled to 
 him ; and his iron will prevailed. 
 
 No wonder God spoke to him, saying, " Thy 
 
THE LARGER VISION 5 
 
 name shall no longer be called Jacob " the 
 supplanter and self-seeker, with nature bent in 
 the direction of an acquisition of flocks and 
 herds " but Israel," with feet traversing the 
 higher levels " for as a prince, thou hast pre- 
 vailed with God and with men." 
 
 It is needless to say that all was over but the 
 " shouting " ; having become reconciled with 
 God, reconciliation with his outraged brother, 
 Esau, followed as naturally as day follows the 
 night. 
 
 Of greater import to the world than all the 
 gold finds of Alaska or diamond fields of South 
 Africa was this spiritual vision given to Jacob. 
 Once the world has made practical application of 
 this vision, all racial differences shall have dis- 
 appeared, the hated doctrine of " caste" shall 
 be forgotten ; the last sword shall become trans- 
 formed into a plowshare, and the final spear 
 beaten into a pruning hook ; or, as the poet has 
 
 put it, 
 
 " When some sweet bird from the south, 
 
 Shall build in every cannon mouth; 
 Till the only sound from its rusty throat, 
 
 Shall be that of a wren or a bluebird's note." 
 
 When all men shall have received this vision, 
 then shall all differences between labor and 
 capital be adjusted ; " trade unions " and 
 
6 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 " trusts " shall be but a memory ; and walking 
 arm in arm " the ways of justice, brotherhood, 
 and love," the capitalist shall address the labor- 
 er, and the laborer shall address the capitalist, 
 both speaking in one voice, in the sweetest tones 
 of earth or heaven, saying " For we be breth- 
 ren." 
 
 II. THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE 
 There is a world of difference in the way we 
 look at things. The perspective held in mind 
 bulks big in the taking of a picture ; the forming 
 of an estimate of ourselves, our neighbor, and 
 of God is responsible for the weal or woe of the 
 race. 
 
 Dwelling in a palatial residence, possessed of 
 an abundance of this world's goods ; or living in 
 obscurity, unknown to the world, and being able 
 to truthfully sing, 
 
 " No foot of land do I possess, 
 
 Nor cottage in a wilderness 
 A poor, wayfaring man/' 
 
 enters not into the equation of happiness, if we 
 have the right perspective of life. Mr. Long- 
 fellow has well said " Brown owns the mountain, 
 Smith owns the vale, and Jones owns the river 
 but the landscape is mine." 
 
 Given the right perspective, and the sun 
 shines for man, the flowers bloom for him, for 
 
THE LARGER VISION 7 
 
 him the earth yields her products. It is his to 
 live in a world home beautiful beyond compare, 
 with a background of " suns, moons, worlds, 
 constellations, systems ; all that is magnificent in 
 motion; all that is sublime in magnitude; all 
 that is grand in order and obedience," causing 
 him to reiterate the words of the Psalmist: 
 " The heavens declare the glory of God, and 
 the firmament showeth his handiwork; day 
 unto day uttereth speech and night unto night 
 showeth knowledge." 
 
 To the man possessed of the right perspec- 
 tive, all trains crossing all continents, and all 
 ships, sailing all seas are his common carriers, 
 bearing to his very door the choicest commod- 
 ities of earth. A rich temporal heritage is his ; 
 but richer still is his spiritual heritage, for he 
 has learned the significance of the words of the 
 great Apostle : " For all things are yours, 
 whether Paul or Apollo, or Cephas, or the world, 
 or life, or death, or things present or things to 
 come; all are yours and ye are Christ's and 
 Christ is God's." 
 
 But poor indeed is the man possessed of the 
 wrong perspective. For him, clouds lower in 
 the heavens, drought blights the harvests, the 
 germs of disease float in the atmosphere, and 
 doubts and misgivings, like full grown giants, 
 stalk the earth. Envy lurks like a destroying 
 
8 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 monster in his heart ; the laughter of little chil- 
 dren mocks him; peace of mind, joy of heart, 
 and contentment of life are minus quantities ; 
 success like a will of the wisp is ever eluding 
 him; friendships are but saddened memories to 
 him, for " the hand of every man is turned 
 against him." To him there is a swift over- 
 taking of prosperity by adversity; the dis- 
 placing of sunlight by shadow, of daytime by 
 night ; in a word, his is the experience of the old 
 lady who said : " I always feel bad when I feel 
 good, for I know I shall feel badly after a 
 while." 
 
 His supreme need is an annihilation of pessi- 
 mism and a substitution of the more wholesome 
 spirit of optimism ; the displacement of the 
 spirit of despondency and complaint, and a 
 large endowment of a right perspective the 
 larger vision of life. My friend, the late Col. 
 Copeland, of wide renown as a lecturer, delighted 
 in telling his experience on his honeymoon at 
 Niagara Falls. Seated with his bride in 
 " Lover's Nook " near Goat's Island, they 
 heard the sound of footsteps, and playing a 
 game of " peek-a-boo," saw a tall, finely dressed 
 gentleman a New England manufacturer by 
 trade approaching the falls. Gazing upon 
 the stupendous waterfall leaping over its chasm, 
 he murmured to himself : " My ! If I could 
 
THE LARGER VISION 9 
 
 harness Niagara to my mills, my fortune would 
 be made." A little later they heard the sound 
 of footsteps, and this time saw approaching the 
 falls a genuine representative of the " wild and 
 wooly west," a sheep raiser by trade, living in 
 a section of the country where, by reason of an 
 absence of clear water, he found it difficult to 
 wash the wool, preparing it for the market ; and 
 as he looked upon the self-same spectacle of the 
 mighty waterfall apparently going to waste, he 
 exclaimed : " My, what a place to wash wool." 
 And still again they heard the sound of foot- 
 steps, and this time they saw an aged man, bowed 
 beneath the weight of years, but with kindly, 
 beaming eye, thoughtful face, and reverent de- 
 meanor ; and as he approached the falls, falling 
 on bended knees, with clasped hands, and face 
 turned heavenward, he exclaimed : " Father, I 
 thank thee for permitting me to live to see this 
 exhibition of thy power and glory." 
 
 It makes a world of difference, the perspec- 
 tive we get of life. 
 
 One glorious summer's day, I stood on 
 Inspiration Point, in the Grand Canyon of the 
 Yellowstone National Park. Feasting my eyes 
 on the panorama of nature's beauty, clinging 
 to the rock, I lost all conscious fear, despite 
 the fact that seemingly borne up on arms of 
 empty space, it was two thousand feet sheer 
 
10 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 down into the yawning chasm beneath. Yonder 
 in the distance were the great falls of the Yellow- 
 stone, three miles away, dashing, as in a sort of 
 agony, against the rocks below. There was no 
 sound, for " the mighty distance laid the fingers 
 of silence upon the lips of the descending cat- 
 aract." Lifting their heads above me were 
 mighty canyon walls, upon which the great Ar- 
 tist, God, had hung his masterpieces, whose col- 
 orings were made up of entangled rainbows and 
 pinioned sunsets. Intoxicated on the wine of 
 nature's beauty, my very soul was enthralled ; I 
 noted not the passing of time, and my thoughts 
 turned to that other and ageless life beyond the 
 stars, where no one is ever heard to say, " I am 
 sick," and where we shall never grow weary and 
 never grow old; and I thought I better under- 
 stood the meaning of the words of inspiration: 
 " A thousand years are but as one day and one 
 day as a thousand years." 
 
 But by-and-by, starting up, I turned to see 
 how my companions were enjoying this wonder- 
 land of the west; and I found a young couple 
 making love to each other. Turning away in 
 amazement, the words formed on my lips " Is 
 it possible to be in heaven and not know it? " 
 I recalled the words of the great Teacher: 
 " Because they, seeing, see not ; and hearing, 
 they hear not, neither do they understand." 
 
THE LARGER VISION 11 
 
 III. OPENED EYES 
 
 Bobby Burns, in his unique style, was wont 
 to exclaim: 
 
 " O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 To see oursels as ithers see us." 
 
 Better still do I like the exclamation of 
 another : " O for the power to see through 
 Jesus' eyes." Then would every wayside flower, 
 reaching out arms of appropriation, utilizing the 
 trinity of physical forces about earth, air 
 and sunlight, developing the ability to give 
 out beauty and fragrance, speak of the trinity 
 of spiritual forces, God the Father, God the Son, 
 and God the Holy Spirit, all awaiting our 
 appropriation, enabling us to " grow up into 
 our living head, Christ Jesus the Lord." Then 
 should mountain peaks, buttressing against the 
 sky, with shoulders of strength holding back 
 the tempests that would otherwise whelm us, 
 bespeak the shoulders of infinite strength, 
 vouchsafing protection from the stormy blasts. 
 Then should the summer's shower, refreshing 
 and rejuvenating nature, recall to us a million 
 voices of drooping vegetation ; leaves brown and 
 sear, and fields of " sun fired " corn pleading 
 for rain; and in response to this petition, the 
 sun, bending very low, with golden dippers lift- 
 
12 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 ing water from the deep into the carriers, the 
 clouds which scurrying across mountains, 
 hills, and dales, dispense their blessings far and 
 wide, transforming these millions of pleading 
 voices into so many voices of praise, rendering a 
 Te Deum of thanksgiving to the Author of every 
 good and perfect gift be found reminding 
 us of the sublime truth that we are the golden 
 human dippers, God appointed to go down into 
 the deeps of God ; that we are " the clouds of 
 mercy," the spiritual carriers, whose mission it 
 is to hurry across the mountains, hills, and dales 
 of human experience, depositing " showers of 
 blessing" upon a thirsty world. Then should 
 we " ken " the significance of the words of the 
 poet: 
 
 " There seems a voice in every gale, 
 
 A tongue in every flower; 
 That tells, O Lord, the wondrous tale, 
 Of thine Almighty power." 
 
 With opened eyes the prophet Isaiah entered 
 into the temple, and we will do well to listen to 
 his experience as told by himself. 
 
 " In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also 
 the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, 
 and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the 
 seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he 
 covered his face, and with twain he covered his 
 feet, and with twain he did fly. 
 
THE LARGER VISION 13 
 
 " And one cried unto another and said, holy, 
 holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts; the whole 
 earth is full of his glory. 
 
 " And the posts of the door moved at the voice 
 of him that cried, and the house was filled with 
 smoke (glory)." 
 
 O that with opened eyes we might ever enter 
 into His sacred courts, that we might see the 
 One, high and lifted up, seated upon the throne ; 
 that we might behold the seraphims, and join 
 with them in the refrain : " Holy, holy, holy is 
 the Lord God of hosts ; " that we might be en- 
 circled by the glory of this holy place, and go 
 forth to fulfil the prophecy " filling the whole 
 earth with his glory." 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 
 
" Imagination rules the world." 
 
 NAPOLEON. 
 
 " The soul without imagination is what an ob- 
 servatory would be without a telescope." 
 
 LOWELL. 
 
 " Like a great cathedral is the word of God. 
 Viewed from without, no satisfactory vision may be 
 had of the artist's dream; but viewed from within, 
 a miracle of grace and beauty breaks in upon us. 
 In like manner, viewed from without, the word of 
 God possesses but little charm for the soul; but 
 viewed from within, a miracle of marvelous truth 
 enthralls him." 
 
 L. 
 
 " The eyes of your understanding being enlight- 
 ened; that ye may know what is the hope of His 
 calling, and what the riches of the glory of His 
 inheritance in the saints." 
 
 EPHESIANS, 1-18. 
 
II 
 
 THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 
 
 " I am not possessed of poetic temperament, 
 hence I have not wasted valuable time, wandering 
 aimlessly in the literary world; rather have I been 
 content to deal with the practical side of life." 
 
 This expression, falling from the lips of a 
 well-known divine, surprised and startled me, 
 since herein is found one of the most fertile 
 fields of research, one of the most valuable 
 adjuncts in the interpretation of the word of 
 God. The Bible is a veritable mine of symbo- 
 lism, literary wealth, etc., which has challenged 
 the attention, gripped the thought and enriched 
 the lives of the world's greatest scholars and 
 thinkers. Would you possess yourself of the 
 choicest rhetoric, you need not search in the 
 world's great libraries for it ; it is found in 
 the word of God. If you would become inspired 
 by the sublime symbolism, you will find it in the 
 book of books. If you would engage in the task 
 of expanding the world's greatest similes, you 
 need not peruse all the works on logic extant 
 
 you will find them in Holy Writ. If you would 
 17 
 
18 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 enrich your vocabulary by rare literary gems, 
 you will find them in the Bible. 
 
 In a word, the most striking antitheses, the 
 most telling hyperboles, the keenest satire, the 
 pithiest epigrams, the most effective metonymies, 
 and synecdoches to be found anywhere abound in 
 those Scriptures given by inspiration of God, 
 which " are profitable for doctrine, for correc- 
 tion, for reproof, and for instruction in right- 
 eousness." 
 
 " Not possessed of the poetic temperament " 
 as well say, " I am not possessed of an his- 
 toric temperament, therefore, I have not wasted 
 valuable time in familiarizing myself with the 
 historicity of things ;" and yet the most inspir- 
 ing realm, in all history, is that portion of the 
 word, which deals with the origin of the 
 world home in which we dwell, the inhabitants 
 thereof, and a Common Creator, God. As well 
 be guilty of the folly of declaring, " I am 
 not of a legal turn of mind, therefore I have 
 not wasted valuable time in familiarizing my- 
 self with the tenets of law;" though the Ten 
 Commandments in themselves form the bases of 
 all law. Or, " I am not gifted with the pro- 
 phetic instinct, therefore, I have not troubled 
 myself to grip the utterances of the major and 
 minor prophets." 
 
 Riding along one day, with a noted jurist, he 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 19 
 
 looked into my face, and in impressive tones, 
 said, "After all, the great business of this world 
 is that of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ." 
 
 A greater than the one referred to has said : 
 " Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
 dividing the word of truth." 
 
 But to divide the word of truth " rightly," 
 means, that the man of God must be a 
 poet,u a statesman, a historian, a logician, a 
 philosopher, a scientist, all in one. That is to 
 say, he must possess a poetic turn of mind, must 
 be alive to the current problems of the times, 
 familiar with the historicity of things, capable 
 of making deductions from great truths, of see- 
 ing the philosophy, " the eternal fitness of 
 things," and capable of applying scientific data. 
 In a word, the man of God must be possessed of 
 the larger vision, finding in all of life's varied 
 and limitless environs " windows of the soul," 
 through which he may look and, seeing, utilize 
 in the illumination, interpretation and enforce- 
 ment of the great truths of God. 
 
 I. SPIRITUAL SYMBOLISM 
 
 We have already said the Bible abounds in 
 symbols, sublime metaphors, embodying the 
 most suggestive truths. 
 
 Take as an illustration the opening sentence 
 
20 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 of the book : " In the beginning God." 
 Reading between the lines, we have " a glorious 
 archway connecting the unknown past with the 
 known present." I had rather have been the 
 author of this sentence than to have written 
 the immortal dramas of Shakespeare or, as 
 the commanding general, won the battle of Wa- 
 terloo. And though adown the ages skeptics and 
 scientific unbelievers have made this archway a 
 target, against which to direct the shafts of 
 would be annihilation, though master minds 
 have advanced the theories of " Spontaneous 
 Generation," " Natural Selection," " The Ori- 
 gin of Species," etc. after the Darwins, Hux- 
 leys, Spencers, etc., have shot their last bolt, 
 the old archway stands forth as a veritable Gib- 
 raltar of strength. 
 
 " In the beginning " " the words carry back 
 the mind, awed and bewildered, age after age, 
 century after century, back on back to that 
 immeasurably distant and dateless period when 
 all that we now behold was not; when no sun 
 illumined the voids of space, no moon relieved 
 the darkness of the night, nor star twinkled in 
 the heavens ; when no sound, no motion had ever 
 broken the stillness of the night; when neither 
 mind nor matter was found in all the dark 
 profound; when God was the alone existence; 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 1 
 
 then, even then, He was, and was all that He 
 now is, in wisdom, power, happiness and love." * 
 
 Continuing, this same author relates how this 
 world home was fitted and furnished for man's 
 abode. " Electric shocks rent the clouds and 
 vibrated the rocky strata; volcanoes burned 
 and belched in the morning of time; earth- 
 quakes, with shrug of shoulders, caused con- 
 tinents to rock and reel like a drunken man or a 
 storm-tossed ship at sea ; gigantic races browsed 
 over the ancient continents and tiny corals toiled 
 at the bottom of the sea all working together 
 under the direction of the divine workman to 
 prepare for us this world home." 
 
 What a storm of criticism has grown out 
 of the expression relative to the space of time 
 necessary to the creation of the world " six 
 days." To the thoughtful student of the word, 
 however, what matter whether the figure six days 
 be literal or figurative. Could not He, who 
 could call into requisition such mighty agents 
 as were employed, by a single and almighty 
 fiat, have caused worlds to tremble into exis- 
 tence; have created our world, and flung suns, 
 moons and starry worlds into their places in a 
 second's time, just as easily as in six days 
 of twenty-four hours each, or six thousand 
 
 * " Science and the Bible." 
 
22 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 ages, since with Him " a thousand years are 
 but as one day, and one day as a thousand 
 years " ? 
 
 What matters it whether Job was a man of 
 flesh and blood or a mythical character, around 
 whose life has been woven a web of inspiring 
 narrative, connected with whose experience 
 the heavens became tranformed into an arsenal 
 of destruction, razing his houses to their very 
 foundations, destroying his sheep land herds, 
 whilst he himself is smitten with disease, and 
 becomes a veritable mass of corruption, causing 
 his wife to imagine that He who would thus 
 afflict " a just man " could be nothing short of 
 a monster, and to turn to her husband, exclaim- 
 ing, " Curse God and die ; " but Job, un- 
 moved, cries out : " Though He slay me, yet 
 will I trust Him " ? The all important item 
 of consideration is that men may possess a 
 faith like unto that of Job, go down into the 
 depths of adverse experience, and come forth 
 unscathed. 
 
 What matters it to the literary world 
 whether Shakespeare is the author of the im- 
 mortal dramas which bear his name? The all 
 important consideration is that the world has 
 been enriched beyond compare by the dramas 
 themselves ; and if not the " Bard of Avon," 
 then some one possessed of the genius of a 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 23 
 
 Shakespeare has placed a stupendous mortgage 
 upon the world's gratitude. 
 
 Some one has pertinently asked, " What's 
 in a name? " and then, proceeding to answer 
 his own question, has replied, " a rose would 
 be just as fragrant if called by some other 
 name." 
 
 With flourish of trumpets the scientific unbe- 
 liever, having with yard-stick gone to the pains 
 of measuring the mouth and abdomen of the 
 whale, and finding it inadequate to the purpose 
 at hand, has gone forth to denounce the story 
 of Jonah being swallowed by a whale as a base 
 fabrication. If modern craftsmen can and do 
 construct submarine boats in which men go 
 down into the deep, could not God create a 
 craft, " a great fish," to form a submarine abode 
 for Jonah, during a period of three days and 
 nights ? 
 
 The all important truth symbolized and sanc- 
 tioned by the Lord is that which has to do with 
 His descent into the grave and His coming forth 
 again; aye of the glorious truth that, because 
 He rose again, we also shall come forth from the 
 charnel house of death and dwell forever with 
 Him. 
 
 Perhaps one of the sublimest symbols con- 
 tained in the book is that wonderful climax 
 of expression found in the description of Isaiah 
 
24 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 of the advent, suffering and ultimate triumph 
 of the sinless Son of God. Rising from moun- 
 tain peak to higher mountain peak of inspiring 
 expression, at length, having apparently 
 exhausted human phraseology, he exclaims: 
 " And His name shall be called Wonderful, the 
 Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Ever- 
 lasting Father." 
 
 Read between the lines of this sublime symbol 
 and note how a thousand sermons grow out of 
 the same. The "Mighty God," holding the 
 reins of universal supremacy in one hand, and 
 with the other hand stooping down to dry the 
 tear of the mourner ; the " Everlasting Father," 
 with almighty fiat causing worlds to tremble into 
 being, giving expression to tenderness and 
 sympathy and love, world wide and ages long; 
 the " Prince of Peace," not with sword of con- 
 quest, but with invisible chords of love " binding 
 the whole round earth in chains of gold about 
 the feet of God " ; the " Wonderful One," whose 
 gift to the world impoverished heaven for the en- 
 richment of earth with outreach of mercy, high 
 as heaven, deep as hell and broad as the need of 
 a common humanity. 
 
 No wonder Isaiah has been called " the 
 prince of prophets," the intellectual millionaire, 
 the unapproachable climax builder; to him was 
 reserved the sublime prerogative of character- 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 5 
 
 izing the thought and purpose of the All-Father 
 relative to his children. 
 
 From Genesis to Revelation the word of God 
 abounds in spiritual symbolism such as, if fully 
 elaborated, would form a book so large that the 
 world would not be able to contain it. 
 
 II. CONTRIBUTARY MATERIAL 
 
 Having pondered the value of the imagery of 
 the Bible, we will do well to note the fact that 
 all about us, in the open book of nature and in 
 the literary realm, are to be found contributary 
 materials of an enriching character. 
 
 Standing one day, looking into the bo'som of 
 Lake Profile, New Hampshire, my attention 
 was directed to " The Old Man of the Moun- 
 tains," a freak of nature on the summit of the 
 mountain, twelve hundred feet above me, in the 
 shape of a human face, forty feet from brow to 
 tip of chin ; and I was led to contemplate the 
 fact that adown the storm-swept centuries 
 this face had been gazing down upon Lake Pro- 
 file, as if to reflect therein its own image, sug- 
 gestive of the fact that adown the centuries an- 
 other face, from the height of glory, has been 
 looking down into the bosom of human hearts, 
 seeking to reflect therein His own nature, and 
 to lift us up into fellowship and communion 
 with Himself. 
 
26 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Driving through the far-famed Yosemite 
 Valley, I became conscious of the fact that 
 old El Capitan, a veritable mountain of gran- 
 ite, three-quarters of a mile long and seven- 
 eighths of a mile high, seemed to be ever present 
 with us, suggestive of that Scripture which de- 
 clares : " If I ascend up to heaven, if I make 
 my bed in hell, if I take the wings of the morn- 
 ing, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, even there shall thy hand lead me, and 
 thy right hand shall hold me." 
 
 Some years since I came across this beauti- 
 ful characterization of the advent of the sweet 
 springtime : " Up from the southland comes 
 the springtime rolling her waves of green be- 
 fore her, crested with the foam of daisies and 
 buttercups, and dashing against our northern 
 hills become broken into myriads of wild 
 flowers." 
 
 And what a sublime symbol is this of re- 
 generation. Up from the southland of infinite 
 love comes the sweet springtime of the new 
 birth, rolling her waves of hope before her, 
 crested with the foam of fervency of spirit, and 
 dashing against the hillsides of spiritual apos- 
 tasy, become broken into the more beautiful 
 flowers of consecrated living. 
 
 America's favorite poet is Longfellow, and 
 herein lies the secret, in large part, to the hold 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 27 
 
 which he has gotten on all our hearts. It was 
 near the close of the poet's life, and his friends 
 thought his pen had been laid aside forever; 
 and he doubtless shared this thought. But one 
 day he is found starting up, and grasping his 
 pen, wrote, what to me seems enough to im- 
 mortalize any man. Looking back over the 
 past of life, and recalling the rough, steep path- 
 ways traversed, the burdens borne, the heart- 
 aches endured, and recognizing the fact that 
 others must make a similar journey, he penned 
 these beautiful lines: 
 
 " O little feet, that such long years 
 
 Must wander on through hopes and fears, 
 I, nearer to the wayside inn where fears shall end 
 
 and hopes begin, 
 Am weary, thinking of your load." 
 
 " Thinking of your load " how the words re- 
 mind us of the spirit of Him who declared : " I 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minis- 
 ter." 
 
 Riding along on the train one day to meet a 
 lecture engagement, to while away the time I 
 purchased a volume of Opie Read's works. I 
 do not now recall the name of the volume, or 
 aught beside these words : " There are no cob- 
 webs in the cottage in which love dwells, and if 
 there were, every thread would become trans- 
 
8 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 formed into a strand of gold." And I became 
 obsessed by a new theme the transforming 
 power of love. 
 
 Mr. Hawthorne, in one of his works, recites 
 how an eccentric character determined to erect 
 a house for himself, and for his materials 
 selected gray, somber clouds. When the struc- 
 ture was completed, it resembled more an ancient 
 monastery than a modern manse. He then de- 
 termined to illuminate it, and for his material 
 selected a glorious evening's sunset, with which 
 he gilded it from top to bottom. 
 
 In this house of fancy was held a " select 
 party," at which were present such characters 
 as the " oldest inhabitant," the " patriot with- 
 out partisanship," the " poet without ped- 
 antry," the " priest without worldly ambition," 
 etc. 
 
 Entering this house of fancy the guests found 
 one of the ceilings upborne by pillars of solid 
 golden sunbeams, the room lighted up with chan- 
 deliers of flaming meteors, whose dazzling light 
 was tempered by globes of evening mist. 
 
 And instantly there stood out before me the 
 vision of " the house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens " ; of its environs of ever- 
 lasting hills, in the distance ; of streets of gold, 
 pearly gates and jasper walls; of fountains 
 leaping into ethereal air, struck through and 
 
THE IMAGERY OF THE BIBLE 29 
 
 through and dripping with light leaping from 
 the throne a home where no one is ever heard 
 to say, " I am sick," and where we shall never 
 grow weary and never grow old. 
 
 In the beginning of my ministry I was brought 
 in contact with a cultured, beautiful woman, the 
 wife of a Methodist preacher. It was an ideal 
 home, but that dread disease, diphtheria, en- 
 tered the home and three lovely girls, their all, 
 were laid away. The nervous strain was too 
 great for the husband, and he broke under it; 
 for a number of years that brave little woman 
 stood at her post, trying to nurse him back to 
 health and strength. At length the physicians 
 decided that his only hope lay in a complete 
 rest at a distant sanitarium. But the wife did 
 not have the wherewithal to provide for such a 
 journey, and some of us made up the amount 
 and forwarded it to her. I shall never forget 
 the acknowledgment of the remittance sent me 
 every sentence seemed dripping with her 
 heart's gratitude. The letter closed with a 
 quotation of these beautifully pathetic lines : 
 
 " I know not where His islands lift 
 
 Their fronded palms in air; 
 I only know I cannot drift, 
 Beyond His love and care." 
 
 Oh, the imagery of the book of books, oh, 
 
30 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the contributary materials lying all about us, 
 enriching in two worlds the soul who has the 
 larger vision. 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 
 
" Narrow-visioned souls would have us believe 
 that the world is hastening to an empty tomb; that 
 ' the age of poetry, romance, heroism has forever 
 passed ' ; that the pen of the * Bard of Avon ' is 
 grown rusty; that the shadow of great statesmen 
 the Lincolns, Gladstones, Bismarcks no 
 longer haunts the forum; that the voice of elo- 
 quence of Beechers, Spurgeons, Simpsons, is for- 
 ever stilled; that the sweep of vision of Isaiahs, 
 Jeremiahs, Daniels, has lost its objective; that the 
 creeds of Calvin, Wesley, Edwards, have vanished; 
 that ' the harp of a Wagner is covered with the 
 dust of oblivion ' ; that the veiled face of a Moses 
 descending from a flaming Sinai, like meteors of 
 light, ' tempered by globes of evening mist,' is but 
 a memory ; that the God of ancient days is dead. 
 
 " But the man of larger vision will not have it so. 
 He sees a world hastening toward a higher civiliza- 
 tion; poetry, romance, heroism becoming idealized; 
 the immortal dramas of a Shakspeare incarnated 
 in daily living; the shadow of great statesmen 
 grown into great republics; the eloquence of 
 ' silver-tongued orators ' grown into more eloquent 
 acts and deeds; the prophetic vision realized in 
 events familiar; the creeds of leaders in ecclesi- 
 astical forums flowering into philanthropy, educa- 
 tional centers ; good angels of light, clad in the 
 robes of humanity, wending their way into the dark 
 places of the earth ; the light of the Ten Command- 
 ments illumining a sin-darkened world. 
 
 " God is not dead, but alive forevermore." 
 
 L. 
 
Ill 
 
 UNSEEN FORCES 
 
 What fireside has not been regaled by the 
 tales of Bagdad of the eleventh century, known 
 as the " Arabian Nights," in which " favored 
 persons were found invoking the aid of fairies, 
 sprites, genii, etc, in the acquisition of wealth, 
 fame and beautiful brides " ? 
 
 The product of a vivid imagination, these 
 tales have traveled the world around. 
 
 Had the author of " Arabian Nights " lived 
 in our day, without drawing upon his imagin- 
 ation he had found materials at hand the 
 forces and influences utilized by men in daily 
 living outrivaling all his own materials, and 
 that without exciting a breath of suspicion as to 
 their reality. 
 
 I have seen in Oriental countries frail women 
 as beasts of burden, bearing on their heads or 
 shoulders earthen jugs of water for the house- 
 hold. In our day we have substituted gravi- 
 tation to perform this service, and lo, water in 
 abundance to supply kitchen and lavatories, 
 " leaps and laughs with pearly spray " in every 
 
 well regulated household. 
 33 
 
34 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Had the author of " Arabian Nights " been 
 permitted, like the author of " Looking Back- 
 ward," to have annihilated the flood of years 
 and looked upon this modern utility this 
 force of gravitation at work, what a tale he 
 had had to add to his collection. 
 
 Standing under the shadow of the Cheops 
 Pyramid, I was minded of the statement of the 
 historian, Herodotus, that it required one hun- 
 dred thousand men, toiling for twenty years, to 
 erect this tomb for a dead king. 
 
 In our age of the world, through the use of 
 mechanical genius, we have erected skyscrapers 
 outrivaling the great pyramid, fitting and fur- 
 nishing these, where dwell the captains of in- 
 dustry, supplemented by hundreds of subordi- 
 nates in touch with the world at large 
 carrying forward the world's business ; and yet 
 we erect one of these skyscrapers, with a com- 
 paratively small number of workers, inside of 
 a few months. 
 
 Given the larger vision, and all about us, in 
 the temporal and spiritual realms, are found 
 forces which make for the enrichment of human- 
 kind. The vast universe, in a mighty chorus 
 of voices, ranging from the gentle zephyr fan- 
 ning the heated brow suggestive of the elec- 
 tric fan to the thunder crashing along the 
 mountains of the skies the forerunner of re- 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 35 
 
 freshing showers bespeaks forces designed to 
 be the burden bearers for man. 
 
 When a lad on the farm in the early morning, 
 driving the cows to pasture, my attention was 
 oft directed to the intricate network, the finely 
 woven web of the spider, surpassing in mechan- 
 ical genius the greatest achievement of man, 
 which had been accomplished in a single night. 
 Did the creator of the famous Brooklyn Bridge 
 sit at the feet of the tiny spider and learn how 
 to form those stupendous arches of steel? 
 
 The diligent ant, building a home for itself 
 and young, reminds us of the sublimer task 
 committed to mortals of engaging in the work 
 of erection of the great, mysterious temple of 
 righteousness. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, 
 consider her ways, and be wise." (Proverbs 
 6: 6.) 
 
 When a refugee from home, with heart broken 
 over the usurpation of the throne by the profli- 
 gate and unscrupulous Absalom, his own son, 
 David, in the midnight hour suggestive of the 
 darker night-time of his experience listened 
 to the roar of the deep, as if responding to the 
 noise of the water brooks, suggestive of the 
 heart of the All-Father beating out in sym- 
 pathetic throb to the heartache and heartbreak 
 of His children. " Deep calleth unto deep at 
 the noise of thy waterspouts ; all thy waves and 
 
36 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 thy billows are gone over me." (Psalm 42: 
 7.) 
 
 I. UNSEEN FORCES 
 
 Encamped at Dothan was the man upon 
 whose shoulders had descended the mantle of 
 Elijah, the prophet Elisha. 
 
 The mere mention of Dothan suffices to grip 
 the thought and command the attention of the 
 biblical student, being associated with historic 
 events, fascinating in character. Was it not 
 here that Joseph was sold into slavery by jeal- 
 ous brethren, after having been thrown into the 
 dry pit to rot and die his dreams perishing 
 with him? But presently another opportunity 
 to visit upon him a more terrible punishment 
 appeared in the shape of a caravan, bound for 
 the land of the Pharaohs. And as his new 
 master led Joseph away, I have thought I could 
 hear his brethren murmuring, " Down in Egypt, 
 through years of heart-breaking bondage, he 
 will have plenty of time to ponder the signifi- 
 cance of dreams of superiority." Had their 
 eyes been opened, they had seen that they were 
 unwittingly assisting to fulfill the dreams of 
 Joseph, and that by and by, when gaunt famine 
 had stalked through Canaan, in quest of bread 
 they should be found bowing very low, in Ori- 
 ental custom, before the prime minister of 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 37 
 
 Egypt, who, though unknown to them, is none 
 other than Joseph. 
 
 " God works in a mysterious way 
 
 His wonders to perform; 
 He plants His footsteps in the sea, 
 And rides upon the storm." 
 
 Encamped at Dothan, Elisha had succeeded 
 in thwarting the plans of Benhadad, engaged in 
 warfare with Israel, revealing these plans to the 
 commander of the army of the living God. 
 Benhadad, in a spirit of pent-up rage, sum- 
 moned his soldiery into his presence, demanding 
 the name of the spy or spies who had done this 
 thing. Upon being informed that the guilty 
 party was not within their ranks, but rather was 
 none other than the Prophet Elisha, possessed 
 of superior powers of discernment, Benhadad 
 resolved to capture and put to death Elisha, at 
 any cost. Accordingly, during the night-time 
 he caused the mountain surrounding Dothan to 
 be compassed by horses and chariots, that on the 
 morrow he might accomplish his design. 
 
 Very early the next morning, the young man 
 servant of the prophet, upon going out to re- 
 connoiter, came rushing pellmell back to the 
 prophet, exclaiming : " My Lord, the moun- 
 tain is full of horses and chariots." And Elisha 
 prayed the Lord to open the eyes of the young 
 
38 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 man that he might see what he, the prophet, 
 saw. The prayer being answered, the young 
 man was amazed to behold other horses and 
 chariots even those of the Most High and 
 was prepared to appreciate the words of his 
 master : " Fear not, for they that be with us 
 are more than they that be with them." 
 
 Profane history stresses the fact that the 
 Babylonian captivity the three deportations 
 of 597, 586 and 581 B.C., in which some 50,000 
 souls, all told, were made exiles for 70 years 
 was but an incident in history, the method 
 of the Assyrians in dealing with revolting and 
 vassal nations. The larger vision, however, re- 
 calls to us the fact that had Judah been true 
 to God instead of wandering off into spiritual 
 apostasy, the mighty Babylonian hand, reaching 
 out from the metropolis of antiquity to enslave 
 the inhabitants of Canaan, had been paralyzed 
 ere it had harmed the Israel of God. 
 
 See, then, an unseen force the hand of God 
 in history: After the chastening of Israel for 
 seventy years (during which time all leanings 
 towards Polytheism have become eliminated, and 
 the repentant hearts of exiles are found reach- 
 ing out towards the living God) as Cyrus of 
 Persia, the chosen agency of the Most High, 
 digs a canal or moat about Babylon through 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 39 
 
 which the waters of the Euphrates, which ran 
 through the city, were diverted on that memor- 
 able night during the bacchanalian feast of 
 Belshazzar, Cyrus' army marched up the dry 
 river bed, past the outer walls (300 feet high 
 and 87 feet thick), past the two brazen-leaved 
 gates of prophecy, which by chance had been 
 left open did I say left open by chance ? 
 rather let me say in the language of another: 
 " Eternal God that chance did guide " and 
 without a single blow captured the famous city, 
 liberating and sending the exiles back to their 
 native land. 
 
 But why journey so far afield for an illustra- 
 tion of unseen forces? In our own times, dur- 
 ing the dark days of the " Boxer uprising," 
 under the leadership of Rev. Conger, a Meth- 
 odist missionary, the American legation marched 
 up the river bed, under the walls of the city of 
 Peking, and when China awoke to the real situ- 
 ation she was looking into the mailed fist of 
 the allied forces of Christendom and the gate- 
 ways of China for all time swung open wide to 
 the missionaries of the cross the Boxer up- 
 rising proving to be but an unseen force in 
 which " the wrath of man was made to praise 
 Him." 
 
 Unbelievers have caviled at " the unseen 
 
40 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 forces " which thundered down the walls of Jeri- 
 cho, the plowshare of omnipotence which 
 carved a passageway through the Red Sea, 
 " the stars which in their courses fought against 
 Sisera," the Hebrew children who became im- 
 pervious to the flames of the seven times heated 
 fiery furnace, the response to the audacious de- 
 mand of Joshua, crying out: "Sun, stand 
 thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the 
 valley of Ajelon." Even believers have gone 
 so far as to concede the absence of the miracu- 
 lous element in our day. 
 
 But over against all this I place that miracu- 
 lous event in modern history connected with the 
 Spanish-American war, in which the fleet of 
 Admiral Dewey sailed into Manila Harbor, 
 smashing the fleet of the enemy to kindling wood 
 without the loss of a man or a single vessel; 
 though, if the leaden hail hurled from the Span- 
 ish forts and ships had been placed on the 
 decks of the ships of Admiral Dewey, it had 
 sunken them by its sheer weight. 
 
 Have we not witnessed men standing amidst 
 the flames of trial fiercer than the seven times 
 heated fiery furnace of days agone becoming 
 a target against which all the infernal sugges- 
 tions of the enemy have been directed coming 
 forth unscathed, crying out in tones of tri- 
 umph : " None of these things move me " ? 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 41 
 
 " The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, 
 
 I'll never, no never desert to his foes; 
 That soul, though all hell should endeavor to 
 
 shake, 
 I'll never, no never, no never forsake." 
 
 II. AN ALL-CONQUERING FAITH 
 
 The supremest triumphs achieved by men in 
 any world are those which have grown out of 
 an exercise of an all-conquering faith laying 
 hold of and utilizing unseen forces in the ac- 
 complishment of the desired end. What inspir- 
 ation is that growing out of a contemplation of 
 the exercise of faith in the temporal world 
 faith which is akin to that found in the spiritual 
 realm men who have faith in themselves, their 
 environment and their fellows, the absence of 
 which makes for our undoing! The greatest 
 panics which our nation has ever experienced 
 have been the immediate outgrowth of an 
 absence of faith, otherwise called confidence. 
 
 We are scarcely prepared to appreciate the 
 bounds of progress made by the world in the 
 last century. If some aged Rip Van Winkle 
 belonging to a former age were to rise up from 
 his long sleep and were to behold the advanced 
 stage of the world of to-day, he would rub his 
 eyes in bewilderment and wonder where the world 
 is drifting to. 
 
4& THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Inspired by visions of triumphs viewed from 
 afar, men have honeycombed hills and moun- 
 tains, laying hold of unseen forces with which 
 they have bound and blended the world into a 
 huge whispering gallery; have harnessed Niag- 
 aras, utilizing unseen forces to turn the wheels 
 of human industry; have bored gimlet holes 
 through the Berkshires to form Hoosac Tun- 
 nels ; digged Panama Canals ; opened up dark 
 continents; conquered the air; and marching 
 triumphantly up to the North Pole, " trans- 
 formed it into a flagstaff from which to fly the 
 stars and stripes." 
 
 Among the polar regions this phenomenon may 
 be observed, icebergs drifting north and larger 
 icebergs drifting south at the same time. It 
 was one of these which became responsible for 
 the world-wide disaster, the destruction of the 
 " Titanic " not long since. 
 
 The explanation of this phenomenon is very 
 simple. The ocean is made up of upper and 
 under currents. Large icebergs reach from 
 five to eleven times farther below the water line 
 than they rise above it. The smaller icebergs, 
 caught in the arms of the upper currents, are 
 found drifting north, whilst the larger icebergs, 
 reaching far beneath the surface, are caught 
 up in the arms of the mightier under currents 
 and are found drifting south. 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 43 
 
 And herein is revealed the secret to the suc- 
 cess or failure of men in the spiritual realm. 
 How many times we have witnessed, with heart- 
 ache, this spectacle men who are not rooted 
 and grounded in the faith being caught up in 
 the arms of worldliness, drifting towards the 
 polar regions in the spiritual experience, where 
 abound lukewarmness, indifference, apathy, and 
 ultimately becoming lost to the church. On 
 the other hand, how we have become enthralled, 
 as we have looked upon great souls men 
 rooted and grounded in the faith reaching down, 
 down beneath the upper currents of worldliness ; 
 down, on down, until they are gripped by might- 
 ier under currents, the unseen forces God's 
 keeping power, marching triumphantly for- 
 ward. 
 
 Held in the grip of these unseen currents of 
 spiritual power, men have developed integrity, 
 impervious to the taint of graft, greed, vice; 
 enabling them to " handle all the world's gold, 
 without any of its dust adhering to the palms of 
 their hands " to develop nobility, manhood, 
 character such as commands the admiration and 
 respect of their fellows. 
 
 Herein is found the explanation to the 
 triumphant experience of Job in direst extrem- 
 ity, when even his wife advises him to " curse 
 God and die," as he rises superior to all the 
 
44 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 forces of evil, and cries out : " Though He 
 slay me, yet will I trust Him." 
 
 Herein likewise is found the secret to the 
 faith of the great apostle, Paul, when ship- 
 wrecked, imprisoned, stoned and left for dead 
 by the wayside. And bending over his pros- 
 trate form and whispering in his ear the words, 
 " Paul, had you not better give up this business 
 of propagating the kingdom of righteousness," 
 in a whisper, which grows into a mighty shout, 
 whose echo and re-echo is heard the world 
 around, he exclaims : " None of these things 
 move me," he was held in the grip of unseen 
 spiritual forces. 
 
 Oh, the triumph of such a faith, enabling him 
 to stand fast in the faith, to rise superior to his 
 environment, to rise on wings of faith until he 
 beholds an ultimate and spiritual heritage of 
 " dominions, thrones, principalities, powers " 
 yonder, to be his for aye and for aye ! 
 
 Oh, the unseen forces laying hold of him, 
 enabling him to exclaim : " Who shall separate 
 us from the love of Christ; shall tribulation, or 
 distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
 ness, or peril, or sword? . . . For I am per- 
 suaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- 
 ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature shall be able to separate 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 45 
 
 us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus 
 the Lord!" 
 
 III. A FINAL TEST 
 
 I have already anticipated a little the con- 
 cluding thought in this chapter the final test 
 of the unseen forces round and about God's 
 Israel. A further word let me say, by way of 
 answer to a question which has been asked again 
 and again : " Will these unseen forces, this 
 spiritual heritage, stand the final test ? " 
 
 I might answer this question by way of re- 
 ferring to the ultimate outcome, in which the 
 unseen forces of the Most High completely put 
 to rout the forces of Benhadad, yonder at 
 Dothan ; or by which the forces of Sisera were 
 put to ignominious confusion ; or the ultimate 
 triumph of Joshua, as, during the prolonged 
 day, he added the finishing touches to his work 
 in the destruction of the last remnant of his 
 foes. 
 
 I choose to answer by way of directing your 
 attention to an illustration taken from " Parish 
 Astronomy." 
 
 " Imagine an immense castle, whose builder, 
 after he had completed it and had locked and 
 bolted all the doors, threw away the key. 
 
 " For centuries, men wandering on the out- 
 side sought in vain to find the key. One day 
 
46 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 one of these searchers, after all others had 
 despaired of finding the key, stumbled upon 
 something resembling a key, and holding it in 
 his hand, murmured : ' I wonder if this might 
 not be the long lost key? ' 
 
 " With fluttering heart and trembling hand 
 he approached the outer door, applied the key, 
 and the outer door stood ajar. Passing within, 
 again he applied the key, which was so con- 
 structed as to fit any lock, and door after door 
 swung ajar, and he entered in and enjoyed to 
 the full the wonders of the castle." 
 
 The author of " Parish Astronomy " has 
 made the application of this illustration to the 
 great castle of the skies. The key referred to 
 is that of gravitation which, held in the hand of 
 Newton, unlocked the outer gateways, and in the 
 hands of his successors unlocked all the prin- 
 cipal gateways to the skies doors of oak, 
 doors of iron, doors of brass, ah 1 swinging wide 
 open. But by-and-by some doubting Thomas 
 comes along and says, " Mr. Newton, don't you 
 think you may be mistaken about this key 
 off yonder to the right are some minor doors 
 which you have not tested off yonder to your 
 left are some minor doors which you have not 
 tested after all, may it not be that you are 
 mistaken about this key of gravitation? " 
 
 And the author of " Parish Astronomy " 
 
UNSEEN FORCES 47 
 
 turns on this man and asks, " You old fool, when 
 did you get out of the insane asylum? " 
 
 To still another castle would I apply this 
 illustration even the mysterious castle of the 
 spiritual life. With the key of faith in our 
 hands we have opened doors of oak, doors of 
 iron, doors of brass, doors of unnumbered and 
 difficult experiences. Out yonder is the outer 
 door of regeneration, which on application of 
 the key of faith has swung ajar; following this 
 is the door of justification, sanctification the 
 doors of affliction, sorrow, persecution, etc., 
 and all have swung open wide. 
 
 And now perchance some destructive higher 
 critic is found coming our way, who suggests 
 to us that after all we may be mistaken about 
 this key of faith that out yonder are some 
 minor experiences to the right, and over yonder 
 some other and minor experiences to the left not 
 opened that perhaps we have been deluded by 
 the possibilities of this key of faith. 
 
 And, not using the harsh expression of the 
 author of " Parish Astronomy," I turn to this 
 would be destroyer of my faith and say : " Get 
 out of my way, my friend, while I shout with 
 Alfred Cookman : ' I am sweeping through the 
 gates, washed in the blood of the Lamb ; ' while 
 I shout with the apostle Paul : ' I am now 
 ready to be offered and the time of my depart- 
 
48 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 ure is at hand; I have fought a good fight, I 
 have finished my course, I have kept the faith; 
 henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
 righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
 Judge, will give me in that day; and not unto 
 me only, but unto all them which love His ap- 
 pearing.' 
 
 " Get out of my way while I shout the praises 
 of God here, and make ready to join the ran- 
 somed hosts as they shout yonder : * Unto Him 
 that loved us, and washed us from our sins in 
 His own blood, and hath made us priests and 
 kings unto God and His Father; to Him be 
 glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.' " 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 
 
" Go out beneath the arched heavens at night and 
 say, if you can, ' There is no God.' Pronounce that 
 dreadful blasphemy, and each star above you will 
 reproach the unbroken darkness of your intellect; 
 every voice that floats upon the night winds will 
 bewail your utter hopelessness and folly." 
 
 THE ROYAL PATH OF LIFE. 
 
 " See where the sun, with face of unsufferable 
 splendor, goes swimming through the day; see 
 where the soft and silver moon, with fleets of stars, 
 goes swimming through the night what eloquent 
 silence. Our dinned ears and hearts are soothed. 
 Our petty cares and excitements are hushed. Both 
 body and soul are insensibly calmed and refreshed 
 as we gaze into the immeasurable silence." 
 
 ECCE COELUM. 
 
 " And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
 ness of the firmament; and they that turn many 
 to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." 
 
 PSALMS, 12:3. 
 
IV 
 WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 
 
 Seated in my room in " Hotel Jerusalem " 
 one evening, after a full day of sight-seeing in 
 the holy city, busied with my notebook (the 
 tourist who fails to take notes loses much that 
 is of value, once the journey is ended) my little 
 traveling companion (Mrs. L.), who was out on 
 the balcony, called to me ; " O, dear, do come out 
 and see the stars ; I never saw them look so 
 beautiful before." 
 
 Passing out where she was, I found it to be 
 true: the stars appeared to be much nearer the 
 earth, and to shine brighter than I had ever seen 
 them in our Western Hemisphere; it seemed, 
 indeed, as if they were endeavoring to be real 
 neighborly desirous of engaging us in con- 
 versation. 
 
 If we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and 
 hearts to feel, our environs of earth and sea and 
 sky, in a language not as difficult to master as 
 the dead languages, " will be found eager to talk 
 with us, imparting knowledge such as we may 
 not elsewhere acquire." 
 
 The greatest of all teachers, the Master, 
 51 
 
52 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 emphasized this thought one day. Reaching 
 down and plucking a lily of the field, and hold- 
 ing it in His hand, He said : " Consider the 
 lily, how it grows." That is to say, if we will 
 but take the pains to learn the language of the 
 lily, it will become an eloquent instructor touch- 
 ing spiritual growth, development, maturity. 
 
 Having learned the language of the brook, 
 Tennyson was found sitting at the feet of this 
 instructor in the natural world, enjoying a rare 
 companionship the while 
 
 " I come from haunts of coot and hern ; 
 
 I make a sudden sally, 
 And sparkle out among the fern, 
 To bicker down the valley. 
 
 " By thirty hills I hurry down, 
 
 Or slip between the ridges, 
 
 By twenty thorps, a little town, 
 
 And half a hundred bridges. 
 
 " I chatter, chatter as I flow 
 
 To join the brimming river; 
 For men may come and men may go, 
 But I go on forever." 
 
 Is it too much to say that the brook was trying 
 to impart to Tennyson, and through him to us 
 all, the importance of a recognition of the doc- 
 trine of " eternal progression " ? 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 53 
 
 Under the breath of old Boreas, the ocean, 
 lashed into a perfect cauldron, may be heard 
 sobbing out in a voice resembling that of human 
 heartbreak ; but when the storm is o'er, and with 
 glassy surface reflecting the glory of clear skies, 
 the sea becomes a sublime symbol, reminding us 
 of the time when " there shall be no more seas 
 of sorrow when God shall wipe away all tears 
 from all eyes." 
 
 Oh, the melodies of winged songsters ! Oh, 
 the music of singing pines ! Oh, the richer 
 melodies of the stars 
 
 " Forever singing, as they shine, 
 ' The hand that made us is divine/ ' 
 
 David was wont to engage in conversation 
 with the stars, taking his first lessons when a 
 lad, watching over a handful of sheep committed 
 to his keeping ; and later, after a strenuous day 
 in performance of the duties of ruler of the 
 nation, feeling " the call of the wild," perhaps 
 in thought, perhaps literally, hastening to the 
 mountain fastnesses to look into the faces of his 
 boyhood companions ; and coming back to give 
 expression to the sublime declaration : " The 
 heavens declare the glory of God, etc." 
 
 Had David lived in our day and been per- 
 mitted to look, not through the natural eye, 
 beholding six thousand stars, but rather through 
 
5* THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the great telescope of Lick Observatory, Cali- 
 fornia, beholding approximately a thousand mil- 
 lion starry worlds ; aye, had David been per- 
 mitted to carry out the suggestion of the author 
 of " Parish Astronomy," taking his position on 
 the last discovered star, and, looking through a 
 telescope with sweep of vision a thousand-fold 
 greater than that at Lick Observatory, gazing 
 upon the countless millions of cluster systems 
 and group systems and planet systems and sun 
 systems and world systems spread out in pano- 
 ramic vision, beggaring description what 
 then? Then I have thought with enthralled 
 soul he had exclaimed : " How great is God, 
 how insignificant is man ! " 
 
 The apostle Paul was likewise given to culti- 
 vating the acquaintance of the stars, and, with 
 soul flooded with inspiration growing out of one 
 of these experiences, in which the stars suggested 
 to him a glorious truth touching the resurrec- 
 tion, cried out : " There is one glory of the 
 sun, and another glory of the moon, and another 
 glory of the stars ; for one star differeth from 
 another star in glory. 
 
 " So also is the resurrection of the dead. It 
 is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- 
 tion ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory ; 
 it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 55 
 
 is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual 
 body." 
 
 And yet, who among us can bring himself to 
 believe that Paul did not learn, as we may learn, 
 from the stars other lessons of vital importance 
 touching human experience lying this side of the 
 grave? Hence the theme of this chapter: 
 " With Stars as Teachers." 
 
 I. THE MESSAGE OF THE SUN 
 
 Seated at the feet of the sun, let us learn the 
 sublime message which this instructor in the 
 natural world would whisper in our ears. To 
 be sure, there are many messages, many sym- 
 bolic truths, growing out of a more intimate 
 acquaintance with the sun; it may surprise you 
 to know that no less than one hundred and 
 twenty-one times do the inspired writers of the 
 Bible direct our attention to symbolic truths all 
 borrowed from the sun. 
 
 You have perhaps noted the value of the 
 headlight on the locomotive. How the engineer, 
 gripping the throttle of the great engine on a 
 dark night, would be haunted by " ghosts of 
 doubts and fears," in the absence of this medium 
 of illumination conscious all the time of the 
 fact that some unseen obstacle lying on the 
 track might wreck the train, entailing a fearful 
 loss of life and property. 
 
56 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 A similar service is rendered by the electric 
 headlight on the modern automobile throwing 
 its flood of light in advance of the machine, pro- 
 tecting the occupants and protecting other and 
 approaching vehicles. 
 
 Have you ever watched a searchlight exhibi- 
 tion of a great war fleet, on the high seas ? For 
 a distance of twenty miles great arms of light, 
 encircling the fleet, seem to be searching out an 
 approaching enemy a spectacular and inspir- 
 ing pastime in time of peace, but a source of 
 invaluable protection in time of war. 
 
 But a greater sheen is that projected by the 
 sun. Across the mighty abyss of space, at a 
 distance of 37,000,000 miles, it lights up Mer- 
 cury ; at a distance of 68,000,000 miles Venus is 
 lighted up ; at a distance of 95,000,000 miles our 
 earth is illumined; at a distance of 140,000,000 
 miles Mars is furnished with illumination ; at a 
 distance of 495,000,000 miles Jupiter is lighted ; 
 at a distance of 1,800,000,000 miles Uranus is 
 illuminated; whilst at a distance of 2,800,000,- 
 000 miles Neptune is furnished light. 
 
 We have thought it a marvelous thing in 
 seven minutes we flash a telegraphic message 
 from continent to continent ; but if we were able 
 to locate a telegraphic station on the rim of the 
 physical universe, it would require fifteen years 
 to send a message to our earth. 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 57 
 
 What a sublime symbol, then, have we herein 
 of the source of spiritual illumination ordained 
 of God to illumine the moral world. This was 
 the thought which the psalmist had in mind 
 when he declared : " For the Lord God is a 
 sun and shield ; the Lord will give grace and 
 glory ; no good thing will He withhold from 
 them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11.) 
 
 A similar thought likewise was that held in 
 the mind of the last of the prophetic band, 
 Malachi : " But unto you that fear my name 
 shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing 
 in his wings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow 
 up as calves of the stall." (Malachi 4:.) 
 
 Amazing thought that you and I may have 
 our pathways leading from earth to glory, 
 illumined by the white light of gospel truth, re- 
 vealing every obstacle lying in our way, whilst, 
 with a shield of light impervious to the fiery 
 darts of the enemy, march forward, triumphant 
 in the faith; and at the last, like the prophet 
 Elijah, in a chariot of light ride up the shining 
 steeps, and enter the eternal City, forever to 
 enjoy the presence of the Author of spiritual 
 illumination. 
 
 In the face of such encompassment of light, 
 is it not the marvel of marvels that even the 
 saints of God are betimes held in the relentless 
 grip of doubts and fears, afraid lest there be 
 
58 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 not light enough to furnish a solution to those 
 mysterious problems growing out of human ex- 
 perience; that sometimes we seem to stand on 
 " an earth that is iron, gazing up into a heaven 
 of brass, whilst no cross of victory, like unto 
 that of Constantine of old, is beheld painted 
 against the northern sky " ? 
 
 Imagine the tiny flower growing by the way- 
 side, fearful lest there be not light enough in 
 the sun for its use. Imagine the snowflake 
 hovering over the shoulder of the great moun- 
 tain, afraid lest the mountain be not strong 
 enough to bear its weight. 
 
 That intellectual millionaire, Bishop Quayle, 
 has aptly used this illustration: 
 
 " Suppose the cup which holds Lake Tahoe were 
 dry as dust, with great, deep hollows which the 
 hand of God, in moments of laughter, had hollowed 
 out suppose Lake Tahoe were dry as a skull. 
 But yonder stand the mountains with snow-crowned 
 summits, and adown the mountain gullies sing the 
 laughing streams; and the inroads of the sky and 
 the adjacency of the mountains and the shelter of 
 the pines give to the snowdrifts all all that is 
 wanted to fill Lake Tahoe to the full with water. 
 
 " Tell me, my friends, is there any need for Lake 
 Tahoe to be dry? Tell me this: when the moun- 
 tains are ready to give their snowdrifts, and the 
 streams singing their way down the mountains are 
 ready to furnish their waters, and the pines sobbing 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 59 
 
 out, ' We are ready to fill thee, O Lake Tahoe, we 
 are waiting to make thee a drinking cup for the 
 gods/ is there any reason why Lake Tahoe should 
 be empty?" 
 
 O, child of earth, beset by doubts and fears, 
 fling open wide the doors and windows of the 
 soul, and light, abundance of light, shall flood 
 all thy life, and no darkness at all shall remain, 
 for God Himself is the light. 
 
 II. SHINING WITH BORROWED LIGHT 
 
 It is a well-known fact that, whilst the sun 
 is the center of the solar universe, there are 
 other centers which, shining with borrowed rays 
 of light, illumine the orbs encircling them. The 
 moon is an illustration of this thought. Who 
 has not been charmed by the glory of a perfect 
 night, with meandering books and shimmering 
 lakes, wind-parted boughs of the forest, and 
 silver rivers the result of moonbeams spilled 
 upon the earth but all this is reflected light, 
 light borrowed from the sun. 
 
 In like manner, while Christ is the center of 
 the moral universe, responsible for all the spir- 
 itual illumination requisite to the uplift and re- 
 demption of the world, the work itself is 
 accomplished through the medium of a glorified 
 humanity glorified in that He has elected that 
 we should become the radiating centers through 
 
60 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 which spiritual illumination is given to the 
 world. 
 
 He elects, not that legions of angels or arch- 
 angels, who might well covet the honor and 
 privilege, shall become the centers, giving out 
 to a lost world the light of help and hope and 
 heaven; rather does He commit to mortality 
 this sublime mission. 
 
 The man of God, standing behind the sacred 
 desk, wins for himself stars of rejoicing only 
 in as far as he reflects the true light of God. 
 
 The captains of industry, the leaders of the 
 social realm, the recognized spirits of the pro- 
 fessional world, intellectual giants, the states- 
 man wielding the scepter of supremacy over his 
 constituency, the men who write the world's 
 poetry, fling upon the canvas pictures which be- 
 come master-pieces in a word, from the high- 
 est to the lowest centers of influence wielded 
 over the lives of their fellows, make for the 
 world's highest civilization only in as far as 
 they reflect the light of the Christ of God. 
 
 The mother, endowed with that indescribable 
 something which for want of a better name we 
 call mother-love, reflecting the true light, 
 wields an influence which extends all the way 
 through this life, which goes down into the 
 grave, which grows up into eternity, which is 
 never lost. Hence it is that, impelled by a 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 61 
 
 flood of sacred memories, strong men, wending 
 their way to the city of the dead, stand over a 
 grave, grown green, to shed a tear and mutely 
 confess, " All that I am or ever expect to be, 
 under God, I owe to the one who lies here;" 
 and hence it is that aged men, whose pilgrimage 
 is nearly ended, lingering by the river's brink, 
 are heard to murmur, almost unconsciously, as 
 again in thought they kneel at mother's knee: 
 " ' Now I lay me down to sleep,' " or, " * Our 
 Father who art in heaven.' ' 
 
 " And I, if I be uplifted, will draw all men 
 unto me " is but another way of saying, 
 " Through the radiating centers of human life 
 I purpose reflecting that light which shall make 
 for the uplift and redemption of a lost world." 
 
 III. UNNAMED STARS 
 
 Astronomers have mentioned but a few names 
 of stars which adorn the heavens ; such as the 
 sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, 
 the moon, etc., which, like monarchs of light, 
 stand out conspicuously. 
 
 Some one has said: "Among the countless 
 millions of worlds which adorn the skies there 
 are less than twenty of the first magnitude; 
 among the countless numbers of men who have 
 inhabited this earth, there are less than twenty 
 of the first magnitude." 
 
62 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Did you ever pause to inquire why the names 
 of all the stars are not given why countless 
 millions of orbs are unnamed? The answer is 
 found in the fact that approximately a thousand 
 million orbs belong to the starry world, and that 
 an attempt to name all of these would bankrupt 
 human nomenclature. None besides Him who 
 sits upon the circle of the universe, could coin 
 sufficient names to go round. 
 
 Sufficient for His purpose a purpose which 
 bulks big with significance is the fact that all 
 these countless orbs unite to form the sum total 
 of that physical glory forming a background for 
 our world home. 
 
 In like manner, the countless millions of faith- 
 ful souls whose dwelling-place is this earth must 
 live and die, unknown to the world at large. But 
 He knows all of our names He does not for- 
 get to reward the giving of " a cup of cold 
 water " to a thirsty soul ; and He has ordained 
 that the combined love and devotion, the 
 merged fidelity of all the saints, shall constitute 
 the sum total of that glory growing out of a 
 redeemed humanity. 
 
 He knows oh, the music of the remem- 
 brance, echoing and re-echoing in the human 
 soul He knows ; and that will suffice for us all. 
 Just as the trained eye of the artist detects the 
 slightest stroke or shade of pencil requisite to 
 
WITH STARS AS TEACHERS 63 
 
 the masterpiece which enthralls the hearts of 
 men possessed of the gesthetic taste; just as the 
 musical director detects the slightest inharmony 
 of a single voice among a thousand voices ren- 
 dering the great oratorio, the divine Artist 
 takes note of each line of duty, each shade of 
 character reflecting His life, and takes note of 
 the slightest inharmony of any single life out 
 of tune with the Infinite. 
 
 And what matters the absence of commen- 
 dation of the world if at the last He shall look 
 over our life-work, and stamp it with the seal 
 of never-fading glory : " Well done." 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 
 
" Edison knows more about phonographs in a 
 minute than Socrates would in a million years; and 
 Socrates, who constructed a raft of reason on which 
 he put out into the dark sea, knew more about the 
 arguments for immortality in a minute than Edison 
 will in another million years." 
 
 HILLIS. 
 
 " Scientists tell us that the dewdrop reposing in 
 the heart of a rose reflects approximately a thou- 
 sand million worlds the vast physical universe. 
 The regal spirit, having ' eternity set in the heart/ 
 reflects dominions, thrones, principalities, powers 
 the ageless life beyond the stars." 
 
 ~~~ .L/. 
 
 " For all things are yours, whether Paul or 
 Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, 
 or things present, or things to come all are yours 
 and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's." 
 
 PAUL. 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 
 
 From my study window one day I saw a 
 number of schoolboys lining up on the street, 
 two and two abreast, under the leadership of a 
 little lad. Glancing down the line, I noted the 
 fact that many of the boys were larger and older 
 than their leader that ever and anon they were 
 found playing pranks on each other, getting out 
 of line ; and then the little lad would swing his 
 arms and stamp his foot, crying out sharply, 
 " Back into line, back into line," and they 
 obeyed him instantly. 
 
 And I could not resist the question, Why do 
 not some of these older and larger lads rebel? 
 Why do they not turn to the little lad and say : 
 " We are older and larger than you ; you get 
 into line, and we will assume leadership " ? 
 
 They did not do so because school lads, like 
 older folks, have ever recognized the spirit of 
 leadership the regal spirit. 
 
 Note then this spirit of mastery asserting 
 itself in later years, for it has been truthfully 
 
 said: 
 
 67 
 
68 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 " Men are only boys grown tall, 
 Hearts don't change much after all." 
 
 Now we see the little lad possessed of the regal 
 spirit grown to manhood, taking his rightful 
 place the place accorded him by the world 
 just as naturally as it was accorded him by his 
 playmates as a world leader. 
 
 Maybe it is in the literary world, where the 
 pen takes the place of swinging arms and 
 stamping feet, shaping and molding human 
 thought, causing ennobling sentiment to swing 
 into line; for there stands in the intellectual 
 forum a recognized genius. 
 
 Maybe it is on the field of battle, where a 
 single flash of the eye transforms a whole regi- 
 ment into so many fighting demons, causing them 
 to exclaim: "Isn't he splendid? We will fol- 
 low him anywhere." 
 
 It may be in the industrial world where as a 
 captain of industry, he becomes the genius mak- 
 ing for " a greater New York," " a greater 
 Chicago," a greater city in which he has taken 
 up his abode. 
 
 Or it may be in the spiritual realm, where a 
 great soul, possessed of the regal spirit, in times 
 of spiritual apostasy has become responsible for 
 a wave of transforming influence and power 
 which has given to the world a heavenward tend- 
 ency, enriching humankind beyond compare. 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 69 
 
 I. THE KINGDOM WITHIN 
 
 One of the most startling revelations of truth 
 given to the early disciples was that which was 
 designed to completely disillusion them as to the 
 character of the kingdom which Jesus came to 
 establish in the earth. 
 
 They had dreamed of a great temporal king- 
 dom which should eclipse and absorb all the 
 other kingdoms of the earth, of which the Mas- 
 ter should be the Head and they the visible rep- 
 resentatives. What a king He would be, He 
 who had but to speak to the howling winds and 
 roaring waves, and they were rocked to sleep 
 what power to thunder into silence and submis- 
 sion all adverse forces He who had but to will 
 that it should be so, and five loaves and two 
 fishes became multiplied, furnished a meal for 
 five thousand people, suggestive of the power 
 at hand requisite to furnish all needed resources 
 of a mighty kingdom. What a king He would 
 make ! And they would be the chief office- 
 holder in this kingdom. Peter would doubtless 
 be made prime minister, John would become 
 secretary of state, Judas secretary of the treas- 
 ury, and the other disciples would be given 
 other portfolios. What a setting for the 
 revelation of truth destined to paralyze all these 
 dreams of earthly supremacy on the part of the 
 
70 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 disciples was that afforded by the triumphal 
 entry of Jesus into Jerusalem! 
 
 The most famous highway leading into the 
 eternal city, Rome, was known as the " Appian 
 Way." Over this highway had marched Han- 
 nibal at the head of the very flower of the Car- 
 thaginian army, bent on the conquest of Rome. 
 Up this highway came the flying messengers, 
 announcing the result of the battle at Philippi 
 the fall of the republic. Over this highway 
 came the noted prisoner, St. Paul, chained to 
 the wrist of a Roman soldier, to be tried before 
 Nero, whilst across the selfsame historic high- 
 way came the cohorts of Aurelius, accompanied 
 by the noted captive, Zenobia, bound in golden 
 chains. 
 
 But a more significant highway-to-be was 
 that leading from Bethlehem to the holy city, 
 Jerusalem, over which journeyed the Christ of 
 God, on Palm Sunday to attend the feast of the 
 Passover. 
 
 On the way, Jesus paused, and addressing 
 two of the disciples, bade them proceed to a 
 neighboring village, doubtless Bethpage, where 
 they should find an ass's colt, and to loose and 
 bring the colt to Him, telling them that if the 
 owner objected to this procedure to say; "The 
 Lord hath need of him." "The Lord hath 
 need of him " what an emphatic emphasis of 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 71 
 
 the sublime truth that, dominated by the regal 
 spirit, the sons of men shall ever assume pro- 
 prietorship of all that makes for the advance- 
 ment of the interests of the kingdom ; and that, 
 conscious of the superior demands of this spirit 
 of regality, all men shall gladly asquiesce. 
 
 Now the holy city, obscured by the shoulder 
 of Mt. Olivet, hoves into view; the procession 
 moves slowly downward into the Valley of Jehos- 
 ophat, passes Gethsemane when, as if by 
 magic, the Master, in prophetic manner riding 
 an ass's colt, accompanied by the disciples, is 
 surrounded by surging multitudes, three mil- 
 lions strong, who have come up to attend the 
 Passover; and crossing the brook Kedron they 
 approach the gates of the city, when suddenly 
 by common impulse the vast throng seems to 
 have become obsessed by the character of the 
 Christ, and in a voice resembling the sound of 
 many waters cries out : " Hosanna, hosanna, 
 blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Now the scribes and Pharisees grind their 
 teeth in rage, recognizing the fact that the 
 crucial moment has arrived that Jesus but 
 needs to make a sign, utter a single syllable, 
 and the crown of royalty shall rest upon His 
 head. The desciples' joy of anticipation knows 
 no bounds the Master will be made king 
 
78 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 His loyal sub j ects are round about Him 
 their dreams of supremacy are at the point of 
 fulfillment 
 
 And lo, the Master turns away, refusing to 
 avail Himself of the opportunity at hand, walk- 
 ing soberly into the temple, an act which pro- 
 claimed in tones louder than thunder crashing 
 along the mountains of the skies that His king- 
 dom is not of this world, dashing the hopes of 
 temporal supremacy of His followers forever 
 to the earth ; whilst for the first time the real 
 significance of His words, " The kingdom is 
 within you," dawned upon them. 
 
 " The kingdom within " henceforth this 
 declaration is to become a world slogan, grow- 
 ing out of which shall be the sweetest music of 
 earth or heaven, even the music of a world's 
 redemption. 
 
 With souls enthralled by this music, the fol- 
 lowers of the Master have witnessed " His 
 pierced hand lifting the gates of empires off 
 their hinges, turning the stream of centuries 
 out of its channel," making possible that glor- 
 ious by-product of modern civilization in which, 
 in our God-blessed republic, every worthy citi- 
 zen has become an uncrowned king. What an 
 inspiration growing out of the procession of 
 these uncrowned kings ; the canal driver, the 
 tanner, the rail splitter, " cutting their way 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 73 
 
 through poverty's gloomy woodland out into the 
 open day " ! 
 
 Walking beneath the shadow of that massive 
 granite block known as Marshall Field's, Chi- 
 cago, we are reminded of the dream of a poor 
 young man entering the city to become a clerk 
 in a second- or third-rate establishment, later a 
 larger establishment; and by-and-by, as he 
 walks or drives along the street, the captains 
 of industry are found bowing very low, saying: 
 " There goes the prince of merchants of the 
 whole world." Now all trains crossing all con- 
 tinents are headed Marshall Field-ward; all 
 ships sailing all seas are bound Marshall Field- 
 ward; The Kingdom Within, THE KINGDOM 
 WITHIN. 
 
 Some years ago the pastor of a large city 
 church had as organist a famous German musi- 
 cian ; and when, on occasion the pastor was not 
 at his best, as a climax to the service he would 
 beckon to the organist to take his place at the 
 organ and furnish that climax. It was after 
 the death of the universally loved President Mc- 
 Kinley, who loved so much the hymn, " Lead, 
 Kindly Light " the hymn being made dearer 
 to all our hearts by the singing of it at 
 the time of the funeral of the martyred presi- 
 dent, when the pastor at the close of his dis- 
 course beckoned to the organist, and, obeying, 
 
74. THE LARGER VISION 
 
 be began improvising on the hymn alluded to. 
 Softly the music came at first, stealing into all 
 hearts and filling them with richest melody ; 
 and then the old musician began pulling out all 
 the stops, turned on all the manuals of the 
 great organ, and a great outburst of music, re- 
 sembling the " circling of pyramidal crowns, the 
 collision of crashing worlds," issued forth, and 
 the large concourse of people sat spellbound. 
 
 When the music died away, even as the 
 " dying away of the tempest," the pastor rushed 
 across the platform, and encircling the old 
 organist in his arms, gave utterance to the 
 words leaping from all hearts : " Where did 
 you get it? " 
 
 The great musician, every ounce of physical 
 energy exhausted, sank down into a chair, and 
 sat as in a trance for a moment; then, lifting 
 his head, he murmured, " I thought I was in 
 heaven." 
 
 And the pastor exclaimed, " You were in 
 heaven, and we were all in heaven but where 
 did you get it? " 
 
 And the musician rose to his feet and modestly, 
 said, as he looked into the sea of faces before 
 him : " I will try to answer the question of 
 your pastor : forty years ago I had a dream 
 through the years I have builded my life into 
 the fulfillment of this dream and to-night it 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 75 
 
 was fulfilled." The Kingdom Within THE 
 
 KINGDOM WITHIN. 
 
 Greater still have been the triumphs in the 
 spiritual realm as lives, dominated by the regal 
 spirit, possessed of the kingdom within, have 
 gone forth to give to the world the impact of 
 consecrated lives. 
 
 In the days of spiritual apostasy in the 
 Church of England, John Wesley, possessing 
 the kingdom within, cried out : " The world is 
 my parish," and Methodism, that regnant force 
 which was destined to give to the world a heaven- 
 ward tendency, was born. 
 
 Dominated by this selfsame regal spirit, pos- 
 sessed of the kingdom within, John Knox cried 
 out : " Give me Scotland or I die," and God 
 gave him Scotland. 
 
 Obsessed by the regal spirit of Him concern- 
 ing whom it had been prophesied, " He shall not 
 fail nor be discouraged till He have set judg- 
 ment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for 
 His law," good angels of light, clad in the 
 robes of our humanity, have been found wend- 
 ing their way down into the heart of Africa, 
 over into the jungles of India, and far out on the 
 isles of the sea ; in arms of love and mercy bear- 
 ing the inhabitants back from a night-time of 
 ignorance and superstition, to the " wayside 
 inn " of heaven and eternal life. 
 
76 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 II. THE CHARACTER OF THE REGAL SPIRIT 
 
 An analysis of the regal spirit is tantamount 
 to an analysis of the character of the King. It 
 is because of no taint, in word, thought, or deed 
 of the Nazarene that the shadow of the cross 
 has stretched across the centuries. Standing 
 gazing upon this life of purity, friend and foe 
 alike, with uncovered head, has exclaimed : " I 
 find no fault in Him." 
 
 What is it that makes the flowers so beauti- 
 ful? It is the utter absence of the taint of im- 
 purity. 
 
 What is it that warrants the high price paid 
 for the choicest hardwoods with which we dec- 
 orate our homes ? It is freedom from " wind 
 shakes " and taint of decay impurity. 
 
 Why is it that fingers of steel grip either 
 shore of East River, forming the famous Brook- 
 lyn Bridge, across which enormous traffic is 
 carried on through the years ? It is the absence 
 of corroding rust impurity of metal. 
 
 Why does the statesman, capable of wrestling 
 with the weighty problems of state and nation, 
 become stripped of the ermine of honor, position, 
 and stamped with the seal of popular disap- 
 proval? It is because of the taint of avarice, 
 greed, graft impurity of life. 
 
 Why that tardy recognition of the gifts of 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 77 
 
 the brilliant intellect of a Poe? He himself 
 has answered unwittingly in the words: 
 " Quoth the raven nevermore." It is because 
 his intellect was beclouded by the taint of the 
 intoxicating bowl. 
 
 The world has with one accord decreed that 
 the purest gem of earth is that of a pure woman- 
 hood. The basest of all men is he who places a 
 low estimate upon the opposite sex, whilst no 
 greater meed of praise can be given to any man 
 than the simple statement that above everything 
 else of an earthly character he loves and re- 
 spects his wife and mother. 
 
 " God sought to give the sweetest thing in his 
 
 almighty power 
 To earth; and deeply pondering what it should 
 
 be 
 One hour, in fondest joy and love of heart, 
 
 Outweighing every other, 
 He moved the gates of heaven ajar, 
 And gave to earth a mother." 
 
 But whilst mother-love, as a scepter of 
 supremacy, holds sway over the lives of strong 
 men through the years, it is only because that 
 love is struck through and through, even as the 
 costliest gem, with purity. Be pure for 
 
 " Not in the clamor of the crowded street, 
 Not in the shout and plaudit of the throng, 
 But in ourselves are victory and defeat." 
 
78 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 Unselfishness. Another and dominating char- 
 acteristic of the regal spirit is that of unselfish- 
 ness. Ponder the lives of the really great char- 
 acters of earth, and note how only the influence 
 of those in which unselfishness has been the 
 determining factor abides. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most spectacular char- 
 acters in the military world was Napoleon. 
 With a personality which amounted to mag- 
 netic power he bound men to him, whilst with 
 an iron will all heretofore impregnable Alpine 
 summits vanished, like mists of vapor in the 
 presence of the noonday's sun. 
 
 Analyze the life of this peerless leader, and 
 you will discover that the dream of his life was 
 to make France supreme among the nations of 
 the earth, and to place the scepter of suprem- 
 acy among the nations of the earth in the hands 
 of his immediate family. In a word, the ulti- 
 mate and ignominious failure of Napoleon, dy- 
 ing on St. Helena's rocky shore without a friend 
 to let fall a tear of sorrow on his grave, may be 
 traced to the self-centered spirit dominating 
 his life. 
 
 Place over against this life that of the Naza- 
 rene, the keynote of whose life was : " I came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to minister ; " 
 and you have the secret to the triumph enabling 
 him to " stamp his name upon the brow of the 
 
THE REGAL SPIRIT 79 
 
 hurrying centuries, and to baptize the nations 
 of the earth with his birth." 
 
 Some few years since a number of prominent 
 railway officials were gathered at Boone, Iowa, 
 to pay a tribute of honor to a brave engineer. 
 
 On a certain memorable night this engineer 
 took his place on his engine to make a record 
 run, his train being the fastest on the great 
 Northwestern System. During the run the 
 engineer noted the fact that he had lost a few 
 minutes, which he expected to make up at a 
 certain point where there was a down grade. 
 When he reached this point it was noticed that 
 he was making eighty miles an hour, when sud- 
 denly there was an explosion, and engineer and 
 fireman were hurled from their places by blind- 
 ing steam and smoke, the engine becoming trans- 
 formed into an inferno in which no man could 
 remain and live. 
 
 When the engineer resumed consciousness he 
 staggered to his feet, wondering how long he 
 had lain there, and how near to danger they 
 were, for the train was thundering along at a 
 frightful pace, with no guiding hand on the 
 throttle. 
 
 He made a futile attempt to regain the en- 
 gine, but was driven back by scalding steam; 
 then bravely he climbed over the coal bunker, 
 and feeling his way along, at length arrived at 
 
80 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the express car, where he knocked on the door 
 for admission, realizing that even now he was 
 courting death, the messenger mistaking him 
 for a train robber. At length, however, after 
 what seemed to him to be an eternity of waiting, 
 the door was thrown open, and he was looking 
 into the barrels of two revolvers. In a moment 
 the messenger recognize'd who it was, and the 
 engineer had just time to stagger forward to 
 the center of the car, pull the emergency brake 
 
 and as the train slowed down, fell in a swoon 
 on his face, and the passengers were saved. 
 
 That was why those officials stood that day 
 at his bedside, presenting to him the finest gold 
 watch that money could buy, inscribed on the 
 inside of one of the cases of which were the 
 words: "To L. H. Shull for unselfish fidelity 
 to duty, Jan. 5th, 1907." 
 
 The unselfish yielding up of ourselves to 
 duty this is the acid test of the regal spirit 
 
 a reflection of the spirit of the Christ. 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 
 
" If Shakespeare were to come into this room, we 
 would all rise up to meet him ; but if Christ were to 
 come into it, we should all fall upon our knees." 
 
 CHARLES LAMB. 
 
 " Jesus was so firmly poised that under the pres- 
 sure of the most venomous vituperation that has 
 ever been hurled against a man he stood erect, un- 
 moved and unmovable his poise was divine." 
 
 JEFFERSON. 
 
 " Christ being the holiest among the mighty, 
 and the mightiest among the holy, lifted with his 
 pierced hand empires off their hinges, turned the 
 stream of centuries out of its channel, and still 
 governs the ages." 
 
 JEAN PAUL RICHTER. 
 
 " I find no fault in him at all." 
 
 PILATE. 
 
VI 
 SPIRITUAL POISE 
 
 Perhaps one of the most skillful acrobatic 
 performances of the persent day is that known 
 as " tight rope Walking." For the successful 
 achievement of this feat the acrobat must main- 
 tain a perfect physical poise, bringing every 
 muscle of the body under perfect control. 
 
 Of greater significance than appears on the 
 surface is this achievement; herein is embodied 
 a principle, whose application in human ex- 
 perience makes for the largest success. 
 
 Note the application of this principle in the 
 social world. Returning from a social func- 
 tion, you have said : " What a charming 
 woman is Mrs. So and So ; never ill at ease. She 
 has the happy faculty of making all about her 
 feel comfortable in a word, her presence is 
 a sufficient guarantee of an atmosphere con- 
 genial in character." And then perhaps, at 
 the very next meeting of a similar character, 
 you were disappointed beyond expression, caus- 
 ing you to murmur : " I think she is one of the 
 
 most frigid creatures I have ever met." 
 
 83 
 
84 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 What is the matter? Lack of poise, that is 
 all. 
 
 Note also the application of this principle in 
 the industrial world. 
 
 You have known men who were possessed of 
 an abundance of energy, a perfect enthusiasm 
 in their work, men of brain power, correct busi- 
 ness methods, and, withal, a goodly amount of 
 tact in dealing with their fellows. Some days 
 you have found them to be a perfect bundle of 
 good cheer dame fortune has smiled benignly 
 upon them, and everything has come their way. 
 In response to an interrogation as to how they 
 were getting on, with beaming countenances 
 they have replied : " Oh, things are going 
 swimmingly." And then, perchance the next 
 time you meet them, you note an entire change 
 of demeanor; stamped with the telltale lines of 
 disappointment, reverse of fortune, etc., are 
 their faces ; they are up today and down to- 
 morrow. 
 
 What is the matter? Lack of poise, that is 
 all. 
 
 Who has not noted the effects of an absence 
 of poise in the domestic world? Passing into 
 the home of an acquaintance, you have become 
 impressed by the atmosphere of good cheer: 
 happiness and contentment, like twin sisters, 
 sit jointly on the throne ; the children are well 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 85 
 
 demeaned; the servants are all that could be 
 desired; and you have gone away saying: 
 "What an ideal home." 
 
 But on the occasion of your next visit you 
 have been startled by an atmosphere resembling 
 chaos; the children are cross and peevish; the 
 servants bang the doors and frown, as they pass 
 from room to room ; the mistress of the home is 
 ill at ease ; and you are sure that the twin sisters 
 of discontent and unhappiness have usurped the 
 throne. 
 
 What is the matter? Lack of poise, that is 
 all. 
 
 This selfsame principle applies in the spirit- 
 ual realm. What pastor has not had an ex- 
 perience like this? Meeting a parishioner, he 
 has been delighted to find him possessed of a 
 spirit of exhilaration, a perfect spiritual en- 
 thusiasm, indicating that he is on the mountain- 
 top ; and then, perhaps, at the next meeting, 
 with saddened spirit, he has noted the fact that 
 a complete change has come over the man, that 
 no longer is he dominated by the spirit of 
 optimism, rather has he become transformed 
 into " a prophet of despondency and com- 
 plaint." 
 
 What is the matter? Lack of poise, that is 
 all. 
 
 The absence of poise means the reversal of the 
 
86 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 arithmetic of life; an addition of unrest; a 
 subtraction of peace of mind, joy of heart and 
 contentment of life ; a multiplication of needless 
 worry; and a division of that perfect equi- 
 librium which men must possess in order to be at 
 their best. 
 
 It was the day that you were not at your best 
 that you dropped the unkind word, which robbed 
 the dear ones at home of a whole day of 
 happiness, and haunted you, through the long 
 business hours, like a thief in the night. It 
 was the day you were not at your best that you 
 failed to make the most of a golden opportun- 
 ity, causing you to charge up a considerable 
 item to profit and loss. 
 
 To be at your best means to possess the touch 
 of power responsible for all that is worth while 
 in every sphere in life. Given the touch of 
 power, and the poet shall write immortal 
 dramas, the musician shall compose a great ora- 
 torio, the artist shall fling upon the canvas a 
 masterpiece, the statesman shall evolve a solu- 
 tion to the vexed problem of state, the com- 
 manding general shall triumph at Appomattox 
 and Waterloo, and the commonplace experi- 
 ence shall grow into the extraordinary. 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 87 
 
 I. THE WORLD'S GREATEST DEFORMITY 
 
 If you were to ask the wise man, " What is 
 the world's greatest deformity? " he would an- 
 swer, " An absence of perfect poise." 
 
 In the physical realm, metaphorically speak- 
 ing, it is " the bruised reed and the smoking 
 flax ; " literally speaking, it is an absence of 
 the use of one or more of our physical faculties. 
 It is the rattle of the crutch of the cripple ; 
 the blind man feeling his way through life, aided 
 by a cane; the hunchback who cannot hide his 
 deformity. 
 
 In the intellectual world it is " the simple 
 minded man," or the poor fellow from whose 
 brow reason has fled the throne. 
 
 Some years ago the doorbell of a well-known 
 divine rang one morning; answering it himself, 
 he looked into the face of an entire stranger, 
 whose sorrow smitten face indicated all to 
 plainly that he was in need of sympathy. 
 
 The stranger was bidden to enter, and when 
 he was seated, said : " I do not know your 
 name, but I have been told that you are an 
 ambassador of Christ, and I profess to be a 
 follower of Him." And then, while tears 
 trickled down his cheeks, the man continued, " I 
 have just placed my sister in the hospital for 
 the insane of your city and and " the 
 
88 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 sentence remained unfinished, whilst the man 
 buried his face in his hands and sobbed as if 
 his heart would break, and the clergyman 
 silently wept with him, knowing that every time 
 the door of that building opened to admit a new 
 patient a fresh tragedy was enacted. 
 
 By-and-by the man regained his composure, 
 and turning to the man of God said : " I 
 thought maybe sometimes you would be kind 
 enough to visit her," and receiving assurance 
 that he would be glad to do so, the man went 
 away comforted. 
 
 Is there any greater deformity known to our 
 humanity than that of an absence of poise such 
 as I have indicated in the intellectual world? 
 There is. 
 
 What is that deformity? It is the absence 
 of poise in the spiritual realm. 
 
 Perhaps the most forcible illustration to be 
 found anywhere touching the absence of spirit- 
 ual poise, or spiritual deformity, is that con- 
 tained in the two-fold word picture painted by 
 the apostle Paul, in which he holds up the carnal 
 nature, devoid of all the graces of the spirit, 
 and then throws over against this the picture of 
 the renewed spirit, in whose life are found the 
 fruits of the spirit. 
 
 It is as if Paul had gathered together the 
 blackness of a thousand night-times to be used 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 89 
 
 as a background, whilst with colorings indic- 
 ative of tear-stained faces, prematurely whited 
 locks, deeply ploughed furrows of care, and 
 bleeding, broken hearts, he has painted this 
 picture: "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, 
 lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, em- 
 ulation, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings, mur- 
 derers, drunkenness and revelings." 
 
 And gazing upon this picture, the soul starts 
 back in terror, crying out : " Paul, why did 
 you paint this picture ? " 
 
 And Paul answers, " That I might represent 
 in toto spiritual deformity an absence of 
 spiritual poise." 
 
 And the soul cries out : " " Paul, give us the 
 other side of the picture. Hurry up, Paul; if 
 you do not do so, I will go mad with an agony 
 of spirit." 
 
 And the great apostle hastens to throw upon 
 the canvas of inspiration the other side of the 
 picture. For a background, he utilizes the light 
 and glory of a thousand sunrises, whilst in this 
 setting he paints, in colorings of entangled rain- 
 bows and pinioned sunsets, this picture : " love, 
 joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, 
 goodness, faith and temperance." 
 
 And the soul, overwhelmed at the sight, ex- 
 claims, " Paul, why did you paint this pic- 
 ture?" 
 
90 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 And Paul answers, " That I might typify the 
 utter absence of spiritual deformity perfect 
 spiritual poise." 
 
 There are moments in life when time ceases 
 to be a factor when the soul, standing on 
 some inspiration point, enthralled, as he feasts 
 his eyes on a glorious panorama or mighty can- 
 yon, becomes intoxicated on the wine of nature's 
 beauty ; it is even so as we gaze upon this two- 
 fold picture painted by the apostle, the glory 
 of the latter being enhanced as we turn away 
 from the former, reminding us of the experience 
 of the unregenerate soul who has passed from 
 nature's darkness out into the marvelous light 
 and liberty of the new birth. 
 
 And yet we should not lose sight of the fact 
 that the sheen of the sun can never equal the 
 sun itself let us look at the sun. 
 
 II. THE POISE OF CHRIST 
 
 By the poise of Christ I mean the embodiment 
 of all those graces of the spirit, all those moral 
 excellencies, which make for perfect manhood, 
 since Christ was the one perfect Man who ever 
 trod this earth. 
 
 The world has been enriched and blessed by 
 men possessed of high ideals, men, who perforce 
 of weakness of the flesh have never attained unto 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 91 
 
 their ideal. Jesus was in Himself, is in Him- 
 self, the world's ideal, by reason of the fact that 
 He is the embodiment of all those things which 
 make for perfection. Gazing upon His life, 
 pondering the utterances falling from His lips, 
 the mighty works performed by Him, friends 
 and foes alike unite in declaring : " I find no 
 fault in him." 
 
 Men have sought to develop, have developed 
 in a large degree, the spirit of nobility, as a 
 result of which their fellows, standing at the 
 open grave, have paid them this high compli- 
 ment : " These men made the world better by 
 living in it." Jesus was in Himself the source 
 and fountain head of nobility; no finger has 
 ever been laid upon an ignoble thought, word or 
 deed connected with His life. 
 
 Beautiful in character is the spirit of philan- 
 thropy dominating the lives of men, responsible 
 for the various eleemosynary institutions, the 
 haven of the impotent and poor of the earth ; 
 but every asylum for the poor and needy points 
 backward to the fountain-head of all philan- 
 thropy, to Him who said : " The poor ye have 
 always with you." Like a venerable gulf 
 stream, sympathy, the outgoing of human 
 hearts to those in need, is found flowing adown 
 the vales of human experience, giving rise to 
 
92 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the old adage : " One touch of nature makes 
 the whole world kin." And yet we know that 
 there is such a thing as misplaced sympathy. 
 
 Jesus was in Himself the source of this gulf 
 stream of sympathy ; as the sympathizer and 
 friend of our humanity, His heart is ever found 
 beating in sympathetic throb with every real 
 heartache and heartbreak. Possessed of per- 
 fect wisdom and an unerring spirit of discrimi- 
 nation, no deception may be successfully prac- 
 ticed upon Him. 
 
 For forty centuries the Jews had been the 
 conservators of the faith ; but owing to nar- 
 rowness of vision and a self-centered tempera- 
 ment, their faith never extended beyond the 
 horizon of their own nation. 
 
 Jesus came to exemplify a faith that " thinks 
 in continents," embracing all mankind. One 
 of the hardest tasks assumed by Him in the 
 development of His disciples was that of break- 
 ing down the prejudice and bias of four thou- 
 sand years' standing, broadening their spiritual 
 horizon ; hence the vision given to Peter on the 
 housetop of Simon the tanner, in which the four 
 corners of the sheet let down from heaven were 
 made to typify the four corners of the earth. 
 Hence also the vision given to Paul, in which 
 the hand stretched out across the sea was made 
 to symbolize the outstretched hand of the 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 93 
 
 heathen world, crying: " Come over and help 
 us." 
 
 Growing out of this self-centered spirit in the 
 secular world was found the hated spirit of 
 caste. Jesus came to exemplify the spirit of a 
 true democracy, to propagate the twofold doc- 
 trine of " the Fatherhood of God and the 
 brotherhood of man." Unlike other teachers 
 who preceded Him and who have succeeded Him, 
 the doctrines which Jesus enunciated were never 
 circumscribed by local conditions; His constit- 
 uency embraced all nations and peoples. 
 
 Seeking to compass His overthrow by en- 
 tangling Him in His words, the Pharisees, nar- 
 row and bigoted in temperament, came asking 
 this question : " Is it lawful to give tribute to 
 Caesar, or not? " 
 
 Note the cunning of the wording of this 
 question. If He answered, " Yes," then the 
 Jews, vassals of Rome and smarting under the 
 humiliation of imposed tribute, would have 
 turned against Him ; if He answered, " No," 
 then all the hounds of Rome had " been hot 
 upon His trail." 
 
 See then the perfect poise of this World 
 Teacher as He called for a penny and, holding 
 it in His hand, inquired : " Whose is this image 
 and superscription ? " They answered, " Caes- 
 ar's." Jesus answered : " Render unto Caesar 
 
94 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the 
 things that are God's." And the Pharisees 
 were forever silenced. 
 
 Then came the scribes, propounding this 
 question : " Master, which is the first and great 
 commandment?" Jesus answered: "Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with 
 all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." 
 Quick as a flash came the retort : " Who is my 
 neighbor? " And on the impulse of the mo- 
 ment this perfectly poised Teacher formulated 
 the parable of the " Good Samaritan," in which 
 He administered a stinging rebuke to the nation 
 which for forty centuries had been passing by 
 the heathen world, as they were made to look 
 upon the " Good Samaritan " unmindful of the 
 fact that the man in need was his hated rival, 
 and mindful only of the fact that a man in 
 need appealed to him for help. And the scribes 
 were effectually silenced. 
 
 Perhaps the sublimest utterance falling from 
 the lips of this perfectly poised Teacher is this: 
 " I came not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
 ister." 
 
 After fasting in the wilderness for a period 
 of forty days, the tempter, Satan, approached 
 Him, saying : " If thou be the Son of God, 
 command that these stones be made bread." 
 
SPIRITUAL POISE 95 
 
 Jesus answered : " It is written, man shall not 
 live by bread alone, but by every word which 
 proceedeth out of the mouth of God " ; empha- 
 sizing the fact that heavenly manna has ever 
 been provided for those who are faithful to the 
 trust committed to them, and that enduement of 
 power never spells license to use this power for, 
 selfish purposes. 
 
 How the pulse beat is silenced and the heart 
 made to stand still as we see the Christ, 
 suspended on the cross, paying the ultimate 
 penalty of human sin ; as we behold chief priests, 
 scribes and Pharisees, joined by friends of hell, 
 falling before Him in mock derision, saying: 
 " He saved others, Himself He canot save " ; 
 causing another to exclaim: "Eternal justice, 
 where were thy thunderbolts ; angels of God, 
 where were ye encamped, or how restrained? " 
 
 And Jesus, lifting His sorrow-smitten face, 
 looked up and replied : " Father, forgive them, 
 for they know not what they do." 
 
 In Boardman's " Problem of Jesus " may be 
 found this comprehensive summary of the excel- 
 lencies embodied in the poise of Jesus : 
 
 " He was faultless, without dullness ; patriotic, 
 without partisanship; courteous, without hollow- 
 ness; dignified, without stiffness; calm, without 
 stolidity; frank, without effusiveness; chivalrous, 
 without rashness; aggressive, without pugnacity; 
 
96 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 conciliatory, without sycophancy; prudent, with- 
 out timeserving; modest, without self-deprecia- 
 tion; gracious, without condescension; just, with- 
 out severity; lenient, without laxity; patient, with- 
 out stoicism; self-conscious, without self-conceit; 
 heroic, without coarseness; sympathetic, without 
 connivance; stern, without censoriousness ; indig- 
 nant, without bitterness; forgiving, without feeble- 
 ness; trustful, without improvidence; diversified, 
 without contrariety in a word perfect, without 
 unnaturalness." 
 
 With such a Saviour, the world may well 
 join in this coronation hymn: 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus' name, 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 
 And crown Him Lord of all." 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 
 
tl 
 
 A man was born, not for prosperity; but to 
 suffer for the benefit of others, like the rock 
 maple, which all around our village bleeds for the 
 service of man." 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 " The florist sacrifices ninety-nine buds, in order 
 to obtain one American Beauty; in like manner 
 countless lives must be builded into a full-fledged, 
 redeemed manhood." 
 
 L. 
 
 " Everything cries out to us that we must re- 
 nounce. Thou must go without. That is the ever- 
 lasting song which every hour, all our life through, 
 hoarsely sings to us: die and come to life; for so 
 long as this is not accomplished thou art but a 
 troubled guest upon an earth of gloom/' 
 
 GOETHE. 
 
 "Who for the joy that was set before Him en- 
 dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set 
 down at the right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 HEBREWS, 12:2. 
 
VII 
 THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 
 
 Stamped upon the face of all creation is the 
 law of vicarious contribution, making it obli- 
 gatory upon every phase of creative genius, 
 and, reverently speaking, upon the Creator 
 Himself, bound by the law which He has be- 
 come responsible for, to give, give largely, give 
 with prodigal hand, even to the limit of life it- 
 self, in order to existence. 
 
 One of the good old hymns of the church 
 which the " saints " were wont to sing with 
 swing of conquest is more than suggestive of 
 the vital importance of an observance of this 
 law: 
 
 " There is a fountain filled with blood, 
 
 Drawn from Immamiel's veins; 
 And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
 Lose all their guilty stains." 
 
 What precious memories are awakened of the 
 days of auld lang syne when, with sinners bowed 
 at the altars of prayer, consecrated souls, with 
 
 old-time fervor surging up through heart and 
 
 99 
 
100 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 brain, sang this hymn, until the heavens bowed 
 down and souls were born of God ! 
 
 Is it true that in these later days we are 
 growing away from the " old paths " of power, 
 and are found leaning more to the " letter " 
 than to the " spirit " of the law? 
 
 Is it true that the sneer of a well-known 
 divine, declaring that the " blood theory " is 
 " grewsome, in bad taste to refined souls," is 
 having effect upon pulpit and pew of to-day? 
 
 Whether this be so or not, we need not go 
 far afield to learn that the law of vicarious con- 
 tribution, the so-called " blood theory," is of 
 universal application, carrying with it the pen- 
 alty of failure to exist where refusal of compli- 
 ance is registered. 
 
 I. THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION IN THE 
 PHYSICAL REALM 
 
 With prodigality of contribution the flowers 
 give out their beauty and fragrance, give until 
 there is no more to give. And suppose they 
 were to withhold their offerings ; with tightly 
 closed petals should exclaim : " We will keep 
 for our own use our beauty and fragrance ; " 
 then would they become blighted, wither, die, 
 since the law of living is giving. 
 
 With similar prodigality the sun gives out 
 light and heat; across vast abysses of space the 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTBlfctJlJON : lM 
 
 center of the solar universe, the sun, pours out 
 contributions of light and heat, supplying not 
 alone our world, but other worlds as well. 
 
 But suppose the sun were to refuse to give, 
 were to close up his bowels of compassion, say- 
 ing, " I will retain for my own use my light and 
 heat," what then? "Then," you say, "our 
 world would become barren, dormant ; every 
 living, creeping, walking, flying, swimming ani- 
 mal of earth and sea and sky, including all 
 forms of vegetable creation, would be consigned 
 to a common charnel house of death." 
 
 Well, that is true, but it is not all the truth ; 
 for if the sun were to refuse to give out light 
 and heat, were to hug to his bosom all his light 
 and heat, the sun would explode, burn up, per- 
 force, of his refusal to give. Seated by the 
 open grate on cold winter evenings', we are 
 wont to dream after the fashion of Mr. Haw- 
 thorne, finding ourselves carried back in thought 
 to the time when primeval forests covered all the 
 land, whose foliage through the long summer 
 days drank in rays of sunlight, and in the 
 autumnal period took on the colorings of crim- 
 son and gold, symbolical of the red blood of 
 sacrifice, whilst, kissed by the autumn breeze, 
 these leaves are seen falling in banks of golden 
 foliage to the earth the process continuing 
 for who' can tell how many ages? 
 
1W t'HE LARGER VISION 
 
 By-and-by, when the acids and gases have 
 done their work, down beneath the earth's sur- 
 face are found great beds of coal, which the 
 miner brings forth, and, flinging the coal into 
 the open grate, we are minded of the fact that 
 the heat and light proceeding from the same 
 are but the liberated rays of sunlight. 
 
 But who among us is possessed of sufficient 
 temerity to accuse Hawthorne of promulgating 
 " a grewsome theory " ? 
 
 Some years ago, when a denizen of the far 
 west, I often found myself traversing the 
 " Paloose and Big Bend " country, Washington, 
 where one becomes minded of the words of Gei- 
 kie : " The vales are the beneficiaries of the 
 mountains." And though the fields of waving, 
 golden grain ready for the garner in this section 
 of country, perhaps one of the most fertile in 
 our whole domain, present a picture inspiring 
 in character, more inspiring still is the con- 
 templation of Geikie, who, in speaking of an- 
 other fertile section of the world, tells us that 
 " the vast composts of the mountains are 
 swelled by the summer's heat, split open by the 
 winter's frosts, pulverized and swept down into 
 the vales by the springtime rains and melting 
 snows to enrich the vales," the mountains liter- 
 ally becoming impovished for the enrichment of 
 the vales. 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 103 
 
 But who has heard of anybody charg- 
 ing Geikie with promulgating " a grewsome 
 theory " ? 
 
 It was after several weeks' drought in east- 
 ern Tennessee, during which the leaves of trees 
 had become brown and sear, the stalks of corn 
 " sun fried," that a million voices of nature 
 were heard pleading piteously for rain. Then 
 the great orb of light, the sun, whispered to the 
 ocean, the great deep smiled assent, and with 
 huge golden dippers the sun lifted the waters 
 of the sea into the waiting carriers, the clouds ; 
 and the clouds, scurrying over mountains, hills 
 and vales, deposited their precious burden upon 
 the parched earth. 
 
 And now didn't you hear the music of 
 these selfsame million of voices of nature, trans- 
 formed into so many voices of praise, sending 
 up a Te Deum of thanksgiving to the Giver of 
 every good and perfect gift? 
 
 Maybe you did not hear the music ; there are 
 so many of us who, " having eyes, see not, and 
 ears, hear not ; " so many who fail to get the 
 significance of the words of the poet: 
 
 " There seems a voice in every gale, 
 
 A tongue in every flower, 
 Which tells, O Lord, the wondrous tale 
 
 Of Thine almighty power." 
 
 But suppose the ocean were to refuse the re- 
 
104* THE LARGER VISION 
 
 quest of the sun to give of her waters to re- 
 freshen the parched earth, should say, " I have 
 need of all my waters; it is mine to furnish a 
 highway of the deep, a world highway, across 
 which may tramp great steamers carrying on 
 the world's traffic; it is mine to furnish great 
 harbors with water, where steamers may lie at 
 anchor and numberless row-boats and tugboats 
 may sag in my waters ; I cannot spare water 
 for the parched earth beyond my own confines," 
 what then ? 
 
 Then would the clouds evaporate, their mis- 
 sion at an end; the rivulets and brooks would 
 no longer laugh on their way ; the rivers would 
 be dried up ; the great harbors would become 
 empty " no water to wander along the un- 
 dulating shore lines, filling all the place with 
 the green, brackish wonder of the deep ; " aye, 
 then, the source of supply cut off, the ocean 
 itself would become a vast pool of pestil- 
 ence-breeding odors, since giving is the law of 
 being. 
 
 Bending over the full-blown and blushing 
 rose, looking through Tyndall's eyes, we may 
 see the dewdrop in the early morn reposing in 
 the heart of the rose, in which " is sheathed 
 enough electric power to charge 100,000 Leyden 
 jars, enough to blow up the House of Parlia- 
 ment." But nobody, to my knowledge, has 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 105 
 
 summoned up sufficient courage to charge Tyn- 
 dall with promulgating " a grewsome theory." 
 Looking through Faraday's eyes, we are re- 
 minded that in order to obtain " the coloring 
 and delicious flavor of a single strawberry, 
 enough energy of the sun is consumed to drive 
 an engine from London to Liverpool, or from 
 Chicago to Detroit." And yet I feel quite sure 
 Faraday never lost any sleep over the cruel 
 charge that he was guilty of promulgating a 
 theory repulsive to the refined taste of his fel- 
 lows. 
 
 II. THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTON IN THE 
 INTELLECTUAL WORLD 
 
 Standing gazing upon a library of well 
 selected books, historical, literary, biographical, 
 philosophical, scientific, etc., in character, have 
 you asked the question, " How much did this 
 library cost? " 
 
 If you had reference to the cost of the mater- 
 ials, the printing, binding, etc., your question 
 is an insignificant one, for that is a mere bag- 
 atelle, an inconsiderable item of expense. But 
 if you refer to what it cost the authors of these 
 books, pouring out brain sweat that is an- 
 other matter. 
 
 How much did it cost the author of Milton's 
 " Paradise Lost," incarcerated behind walls of 
 
106 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 total blindness, to produce the immortal work 
 which bears his name? 
 
 How much did it cost Tennyson to write " In 
 Memoriam " ? For answer you must sit with 
 him, through long vigils of loneliness and heart- 
 break, listening to the drip, drip, drip of human 
 blood, as he contemplates the " loved one " 
 from whose brow reason had fled the throne. 
 
 How much did it cost Emerson to write the 
 words : " The times are the masquerades of the 
 eternities, the receptacle in which the past leaves 
 its history, the quarries out of which the present 
 is building up the future " ? 
 
 Did you think this was a mere poetical effu- 
 sion flung out in moments of " mental playful- 
 ness " ? Not so. If you would know the real 
 cost of any one of the real gems of poetic truth, 
 you must watch the author burning the midnight 
 oil, casting and recasting the choice phrase a 
 thousand times, until the gold of intellectual 
 worth is produced to enrich human lives. 
 
 See, then, this " intellectual millionaire," who 
 has climbed hand over hand up the ladder of in- 
 tellectual fame, until, having reached the top- 
 most rundle, he becomes capable of formulating 
 symbolisms of truth whose unfolding shall be- 
 come the delight of those possessed of the larger 
 vision. Aye, see Emerson, possessed of the 
 larger vision himself, as he ponders " the times 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 107 
 
 the masquerades of the eternities " liter- 
 ally the world stage on which every man, woman 
 and child of earth performs his part; see him 
 as, with enlarging vision, he catches sight of 
 the toilers of the past come trooping up, like 
 so many school children, with arms laden with 
 flowers, flinging their treasure-troves at our 
 feet, forming a receptacle for a world product; 
 aye, see him as, with mighty sweep of vision, he 
 looks out into the future and beholds the sub- 
 limer structure, fame, honor, character, man- 
 hood, womanhood, the sublime achievements of 
 those who have utilized the materials at hand 
 " the quarry out of which the present is build- 
 ing up the future." 
 
 How much did it cost Lincoln to scribble on 
 the back of an envelope, riding along on the 
 train having hurried away from the exacting 
 duties of the chief magistrate of our nation in 
 the most trying hours through which our nation 
 has ever passed how much did it cost him to 
 formulate the outline of that greatest patriotic 
 oration which has ever been delivered, the or- 
 ation delivered at Gettysburg? 
 
 If you would know all the cost you must stand 
 where the old soldiers of our united republic 
 recently stood, the blue and the gray, in the 
 reunion at Gettysburg the past year, and recall 
 the awful struggle, " the hell of shot and shell," 
 
108 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 through which they passed, in order that our 
 Republic might remain intact. 
 
 The renowned, lamented southern orator and 
 author, Henry W. Grady, was wont to say : 
 " If I wanted my boy to learn the meaning of 
 this republic, I would lead him to the foot of 
 Bunker Hill monument, and there, seated be- 
 neath the shadow of that mighty shaft, I would 
 recite to him the story of the men who came up 
 to the altar of a nation's sacrifice, laying thereon 
 their all in order to save the republic itself." 
 
 How much did it cost to write the book of 
 books? Who will undertake the herculean task 
 of estimating the cost of patriarchal faith and 
 prophetic vision, the cost of heroes and martyrs, 
 poets and statesmen characters " lofty and 
 lowly, noble and ignoble " making up the mater- 
 ials woven into the Old Testament Scriptures 
 not to speak of God's greatest gift to men, re- 
 sponsible for the impoverishment of heaven for 
 the enrichment of earth, even the gift of His 
 only begotten Son of New Testament narrative? 
 
 Only when some archangel of the world of 
 light shall rise up in yonder world of light to 
 tell of the cost of tears grown into mighty 
 rivers ; of groans grown into sound resembling 
 that of thunders crashing along the mountains 
 of the skies ; of the tension of heartbreak which 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 109 
 
 on Calvary's summit caused this world to shud- 
 der rocks being jostled out of their places," 
 the great orb of light, the sun, wheeling his 
 chariot of illumination backward from the 
 scene, refusing to look upon the sun of right- 
 eousness from whom he had borrowed his rays 
 of light, sinking beneath a horizon of mingled 
 darkness, death and blood whilst the bending 
 sympathies of heaven let fall a tear shall we 
 be able to grip this stupendous thought, the 
 cost of writing of God's revelation to men. 
 
 III. THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION IN THE 
 SPIRITUAL REALM 
 
 We have already indicated that the Author 
 of the law of vicarious contribution must Him- 
 self be subject to the application of that law in 
 fulfillment of the relation which He sustains to 
 the children of men. Amazed and dazed, we 
 stand gazing upon the actual application in His 
 sacrificial offering. 
 
 Again and again have we reverted in thought 
 to the sacrifice of Abraham who, by common con- 
 sent, has outdistanced all his fellows in offering 
 up Isaac, his only son, at Mt. Moriah. Stag- 
 gering under the very burden of contemplation, 
 we have followed him on that lonely journey 
 of three days and nights days and nights so 
 long to him that it would seem as if he must 
 
110 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 have gripped in all its significance the meaning 
 of the words : " A thousand years are but as 
 one day, and one day as a thousand years." 
 And when at last the place appointed has been 
 reached, and the little lad inquired of him: 
 " Father, the altar is here, the wood for the 
 offering is at hand, but where is the offering? " 
 it must have been like a blade of anguish plunged 
 into his vitals and turned round. 
 
 When the lad was tied to the altar, and his 
 hand held the gleaming blade raised to slay his 
 son and his hand was paralyzed a moment, 
 long enough for God to indicate the real offer- 
 ing yonder, caught in the thicket I have 
 thought I could see the air growing heavy and 
 Abraham, staggering under the awful strain, 
 falling in a swoon to the earth. 
 
 Why did God require such a sacrifice at the 
 hands of mortal man? Maybe you answer, " In 
 order that he might become ' the father of the 
 faithful,' whose seed should become ' numerous 
 as the sands of the seashore.' ' 
 
 Well, that may be true, but I have thought 
 that even more important than this was the 
 symbol growing out of the sacrifice of Abraham 
 the symbol of the sacrifice of the All-Father 
 in the offering of an only begotten Son to die 
 for sinful man. 
 
 Give to imagination a free rein ; traverse the 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 111 
 
 unknown ages lying between " the beginning " 
 when, at the utterance of the almighty fiat, 
 worlds trembled into being, and the time when 
 the angelic choir, supplemented by morning 
 stars dancing together, chanted the annunci- 
 ation song : " Glory to God in the highest, 
 and on earth peace and good will among men; 
 for unto you this day is born in the city of 
 David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord." 
 And as you ponder this vigil of the ages and 
 the heartbreak of God, you will be able to sing 
 as never before : 
 
 " In the cross of Christ I glory, 
 Towering o'er the wrecks of time; 
 
 All the light of sacred story 
 
 Gathers round His head sublime." 
 
 And shall the church fail to learn the signifi- 
 cance of this sacrificial offering, the value of 
 the vicarious contribution? 
 
 An engineer, held in high esteem by his em- 
 ployers, was called upon one dark night to make 
 a record run. A strange presentiment took pos- 
 session of him, causing him with assumed play- 
 fulness to enter the sleeping-chamber of his wife 
 and little one four times to hug and kiss them 
 good-night. 
 
 With train running sixty miles an hour, in 
 making a curve in the road he saw another train 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
 approaching him a sleepy signal man had 
 erred. He might have jumped and saved his 
 life, but did not do so; whistling down brakes 
 and reversing the engine, in a moment the awful 
 crash came which snuffed out his life but he 
 had saved the lives of a hundred passengers 
 asleep in Pullman cars behind him. 
 
 And you ask, " Was it necessary to make 
 such a sacrifice? " 
 
 And we answer, " If he could not do so, he 
 was unworthy ever to have pulled a throttle." 
 
 Why should we not expect to find a similar 
 fidelity in the church of God? 
 
 A faithful minister of the gospel, who had 
 builded his best talent into the church he was 
 serving without stint, but without avail, for an 
 indifferent church made impotent all his efforts, 
 stood bravely at his post, even when he knew 
 that his physical and mental forces were wan- 
 ing. By-and-by that heartless church asked 
 for his resignation, that another might take his 
 place. It was the " last straw," and he stag- 
 gered back into the sacred circle of loved ones 
 and died. 
 
 And you ask : " Was it necessary for him to 
 make such a sacrifice in the face of such in- 
 difference? " 
 
 And I reply : " If he could not do so, he was 
 not worthy to stand as an ambassador of Him 
 
THE VICARIOUS CONTRIBUTION 113 
 
 6 who for the joy that was set before Him 
 endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
 set down at the right hand of the throne of 
 God.' " 
 
 The vicarious contribution at the hands of 
 the man of God and the church at large this 
 is the supreme requirement requisite to hastening 
 the chariot wheels of salvation and the ushering 
 in of the millennium. 
 
THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
" Men with empires in their brains." 
 
 LOWELL. 
 
 " No bird can race in the great blue sky against 
 a noble soul/' 
 
 SWING. . 
 
 " All men love Napoleon because he is them- 
 selves in possibility/' 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 " For I determined not to know anything among 
 you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 
 
 ST. PAUL. 
 
 "Who for the joy that was set before Him en- 
 dured the cross, despising the shame and is set 
 down at the right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 HEBREWS, 12:2. 
 
VIII 
 THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 We are all familiar with the old adage: 
 " Hitch your wagon to a star." In terms of 
 derision a literalist has declared : " The most 
 insane act of which any man could be guilty 
 would be the attempt to follow the advice of 
 this adage ; " for said he, " Any intelligent man 
 knows that the orbs on high .revolve with such 
 rapidity as to dazzle the calculating mind, mak- 
 ing it impossible to get within a million miles of 
 hitching distance to a star, whilst, if by any 
 possibility of chance the man should succeed in 
 hitching his wagon to a star, both he and the 
 wagon would be whisked into oblivion in the 
 smallest possible fraction of a second." 
 
 Now it goes without saying that such a man 
 is unworthy of being reasoned with that it 
 would be a clear case of " casting pearls before 
 swine." What is meant by the adage is that, in 
 order to obtain the largest success in life, man 
 must have a high ideal towards which he must 
 constantly press. 
 
 The man in the legal world who would make a 
 117 
 
118 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 record in his chosen profession must not be con- 
 tent to be an ordinary barrister, to get on some- 
 how, satisfied if he can keep the wolf from the 
 door ; he must resolve to stand at the head of his 
 profession, to earn $50,000 a year; no matter 
 at what cost, to climb to the topmost rundle in 
 the legal ladder. 
 
 The man who would accomplish the largest 
 success in the industrial world must resolve to 
 become a captain of industry, to associate him- 
 self with leading spirits in the industrial world, 
 whose combined efforts shall make for " a 
 greater New York," a greater city the city in 
 which he has elected to take up his abode. 
 
 The world has no patience with the man 
 possessed of low ideals who is content to eke out 
 a living; but the world's heart is thrilled at the 
 sight of a man in whose blood is the iron of de- 
 termination, and whose heart beats like a trip 
 hammer as he engages in the upward climb. 
 Dominated by such impulses, we are not sur- 
 prised at the fact that men have succeeded in 
 wresting down the secrets of the stars, in trans- 
 forming the deep into a world highway across 
 which may tramp ships of commerce, in encircl- 
 ing the globe, with a thread-like track of wire 
 around which to flash tiny, invincible cars of 
 harnessed lightnings, binding and blending the 
 world into a huge whispering gallery in which 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 119 
 
 the inhabitants of other nations become our 
 next-door neighbors. 
 
 Nor have these triumphant achievements been 
 confined to the temporal world; actuated by a 
 similar impulse, in the spiritual realm, bold, 
 restless spirits have marched towards the goal 
 of success. Thus we see Moses marching up 
 a flaming Sinai, into the immediate presence 
 of the great " I am that I am," receiving the 
 tablets of law at His hands the law which has 
 formed the bases for all law down the centuries. 
 We behold Abraham, going forth he knows not 
 whither at the command of God, who later be- 
 comes known as " the father of the faithful, 
 whose seed is as numerous as the sands of the 
 seashore." We look upon a Paul, once a big- 
 oted, self-centered pupil, seated at the feet of 
 Gamaliel, going forth to persecute the disci- 
 ples of Christ, but returning to write the world's 
 theology, establish the Christian church in the 
 world's strategic centers, and inaugurate a 
 worldwide missionary movement, becoming easily 
 the foremost apostle of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Inquiring as to the source of the inspiration 
 of such men as the great apostle, we hear him 
 exclaiming : " For I determined not to know 
 anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him 
 crucified." To Paul, Jesus Christ stood for the 
 highest and the best in the spiritual realm; 
 
120 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 He was the greatest among the great, the no- 
 blest among those whose lives were dominated 
 by ennobling principles ; He was not merely 
 the gulf stream of sympathy, flowing humanity- 
 ward, He was the fountain-head whence all 
 streams of sympathy emanate; He was not 
 merely an exemplification of " a love past find- 
 ing out," He was love itself; He was not only 
 a holy, mighty man, He was the " holiest among 
 the mighty, and the mightiest among the holy." 
 Paul could not be satisfied with hitching his 
 spiritual wagon to a star; he must needs hitch 
 his wagon to the Creator of all the stars. 
 
 What an ideal for all the children of men to 
 become obsessed by. Approaching a little 
 closer to Paul's ideal, let us in brief analysis 
 ponder this theme of themes, " The Supremacy 
 of Jesus Christ." 
 
 I. JESUS A WORLD INSTRUCTOR 
 
 And first let us study Jesus in the role of a 
 World Instructor. As such we will do well to 
 notice how He stressed the most vital phases of 
 human life, always " putting first things first." 
 
 He has been called The " Great Physician," 
 not because He gave himself up primarily to 
 the task of healing the bodies of men. This He 
 did, but always incidentally, and in response to 
 the demand of the Oriental mind seeking spec- 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 tacular evidence of His divine character. In 
 order to meet this demand, we find strewn all 
 along His pathway spectacular performances. 
 On the occasion of His advent into the world 
 " the morning stars danced together," whilst 
 an angelic choir chanted the annunciation song: 
 " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
 peace and good will among men; for unto you 
 this day is born in the city of David a Savior 
 which is Christ the Lord." 
 
 When formally inducted into office in His 
 baptism, a voice out of a cloud was heard say- 
 ing " This is my beloved Son, hear Him." 
 
 Five thousand people were fed upon five 
 loaves and two fishes, literally five barley 
 crackers and the two dried herring which a 
 little lad had brought as a noonday's snack 
 and had forgotten to eat, under the spell 
 which the World Instructor cast upon all the 
 people. 
 
 Reclining in a little ship on the bosom of 
 storm-tossed Gennesaret, in response to the ap- 
 peal of His disciples, saying, " Lord, carest 
 thou not that we perish? " He simply spake 
 to the howling winds and roaring waves, saying, 
 " Peace, be still," and the winds and waves were 
 rocked to sleep. 
 
 When the outstretched hand of the woman in 
 the throng which jostled Him touched the hem 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
 of His garment, and she was healed of the issue 
 of blood of a number of years' standing one 
 who had been pronounced an " incurable " by 
 attending physicians in feigned expression 
 of surprise He turned about, exclaiming: 
 "Who touched me?" 
 
 When Roman soldiers came to arrest Him 
 in the Garden of Gethsemane, He simply looked 
 them in the face and they fell backward in awe 
 of His power. 
 
 The most spectacular scene in all His min- 
 istry was witnessed on Golgotha when, as He 
 gave up the ghost, rocks were jostled out of 
 their places, the veil of the temple was rent in 
 twain, whilst the " great orb of light, the sun, 
 wheeled its chariot of illumination backward 
 from the scene, refusing to look upon the sun 
 of righteousness from whom he had borrowed 
 his rays of light, sinking beneath a commingled 
 horizon of darkness, death and blood." 
 
 Spectacular in character were all the mighty 
 miracles performed by Him, furnishing indis- 
 putable evidence of the divine character of their 
 Author, and I repeat all of these were 
 incidental; the healing of the sick, the curing 
 of the blind, the unstopping of the ears of the 
 deaf, and the raising of the dead were never 
 intended as proofs of His ability to heal the 
 bodies of men and women the real mission of 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 123 
 
 Jesus Christ in the earth was to heal the souls 
 of men. 
 
 Leaving a hospital one day after visiting an 
 inmate, I turned to the attending physician 
 standing in the hall, and in reply to my ques- 
 tion he shook his head sadly, saying: "A 
 hopeless case ; the medical world has never 
 found a remedy for diseases like hers." 
 
 Had Jesus seen fit thus to do, He might have 
 drawn aside the curtains of mystery, revealing 
 a cure for all the ills of life, but He did not 
 do so. Why? He did not do so because here 
 is found the field of operation of the medical 
 fraternity, which has made rapid strides in the 
 conquest of disease and by-and-by will be 
 masters of the situation ; Jesus came to work in 
 a higher sphere the sphere in which He alone 
 was supreme, hence His title, " The Great 
 Physician." 
 
 Had Jesus seen fit thus to do, He might have 
 thrown back the bolts, unlocking all doors 
 " doors of oak, doors of iron, doors of brass '* 
 - revealing all the secrets belonging to the 
 scientific world, discovering to men, not in the 
 twentieth century but in the first century, the 
 X-ray, bloodless surgery, wireless telegraphy, 
 the aeroplane, radium, etc., whose introduction 
 has caused the characterization of the age in 
 which we live as " the age of ages ; " more than 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
 that, He might have given an additional flood 
 of revelation such as, in future ages, should 
 convince the world that the inhabitants of the 
 twentieth century had but reached the border- 
 land of ultimate triumph in the scientific world, 
 but He did not do so. Why? He did not do 
 so because herein lies the legitimate sphere of 
 men whose task is the accomplishment of these 
 triumphs; His work lay in a higher realm 
 the spiritual realm and He adhered strictly 
 to His task. 
 
 Superior to wireless telegraphy, through the 
 use of which the White Star Liner, disabled on 
 the high seas, whispered out through the black- 
 ness of the night and across the tempest-tossed 
 waves the story of her mishap, and other 
 vessels several hundreds of miles distant whis- 
 pered back that, as fast as steam power could 
 bear them, they were on their way to succor 
 her, was that revelation of a medium of com- 
 munication, through which a lost world may 
 whisper up in the ear of God the story of their 
 helpless estate, and the great God may whisper 
 back messages of help and hope and heaven. 
 
 Outrivaling radium, a single speck of which 
 is more powerful than a ten thousand horse- 
 power derrick, was the revelation of spiritual 
 power destined to " bind the whole round earth 
 in chains of gold about the feet of God." 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 125 
 
 Of greater penetration than the X-ray, 
 which locates any foreign substance lodged in 
 the human body, was the revelation of that all- 
 seeing eye which looks down into the human 
 heart, discerning the secret motives of all men 
 everywhere. 
 
 As a World Instructor Christ came to deal 
 with the great eternal truths God, the soul, 
 a boundless heaven and a fathomless hell 
 truths with which He alone was competent to 
 deal. 
 
 II. THE SUPREMACY OF THE GOSPEL OF 
 CHRIST 
 
 Not only was Christ supreme as a World 
 Instructor. He came to invest His church 
 with a gospel which should be supreme, meet- 
 ing every exigency of life and experience, sav- 
 ing to the uttermost all who come to Him by 
 faith. 
 
 Somewhere I have found this beautiful and 
 forcible illustration, touching the supremacy 
 of the gospel of Christ: 
 
 " When Mahomet sees a soul lying at the foot 
 of the hill of difficulty, he exclaims, ' It is the will 
 of Allah/ 
 
 " When Buddha sees a soul lying at the foot of 
 the hill of difficulty, gazing wistfully towards the 
 temple Beautiful surmounting the top of the hill, 
 
126 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 he says, ' When you have passed through a thou- 
 sand incarnations you may begin to climb the hill 
 of difficulty towards the temple Beautiful.' 
 
 " When Confucius sees a soul lying at the foot 
 of the hill of difficulty he says, ' If I had seen you 
 ere you fell, I could have told you how to keep 
 from falling down the hill.' 
 
 " But when Christ sees a soul at the foot of the 
 hill of difficulty, He hastens down the hill, throws 
 the arms of infinite love about that one, bears 
 him to the top of the hill of difficulty, and together 
 they enter the temple Beautiful, the man ' leaping 
 and walking and praising God.' ' 
 
 Dr. Dawson, in " The Evangelistic Note," 
 tells of a twofold vision of the human soul. He 
 says : " There is what is known as the micro- 
 scopic vision of human life, and there is what 
 is known as the telescopic vision." 
 
 Looking through the microscope the pessi- 
 mistic soul sees frailty, mistakes, follies, etc., 
 and cries out, " That is man." And so it is, 
 for who is not conscious of frailty does not 
 know that man is " as the grass of the field, 
 which in the morning groweth up and flour- 
 isheth, and in the evening is cut down and with- 
 ereth." Who among us is not conscious of 
 mistakes and failures and human follies? But 
 now let us look through the telescope get the 
 telescopic vision of a human soul ; and we " see 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 man in relation to the stars, to the immensity 
 of space, to the music of the spheres." 
 
 Note the application of the gospel of 
 supremacy in the lives of men in the time of 
 Christ. See John, originally a veritable Boan- 
 erges, a son of thunder; under the impact of 
 the influence of the gospel of Christ, John be- 
 comes transformed into a type of clinging ten- 
 derness " the disciple whom Jesus loved." 
 
 Behold Peter, the vacillating disciple, im- 
 pulsive, unreliable, always getting into trouble 
 himself and dragging other people into trouble 
 through his rash words and deeds. See him 
 over yonder in the testing time denying his 
 Lord thrice, with a bitter oath upon his lips, 
 saying, " I never knew the man." But a little 
 later see Peter, for there is such a thing as 
 Peter in possibility; and now he has become 
 possessed of an oaken character, firm as a rock, 
 whose faith in the Christ, the Master declares 
 shall form the foundation of His church, against 
 which not even the gates of hell shall prevail. 
 
 Look upon the woman taken in an unnamable 
 sin, upon whom the world turns its back, hypo- 
 critical society looks askance, and from whom 
 even the church turns away, crying out : " Un- 
 clean, unclean, away with her, away with her." 
 But under the impact with the gospel of Christ 
 for the Christ looked down beneath the sur- 
 
128 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 face, beneath her sin and shame, and beheld 
 His own image, marred by transgression, but 
 still His image under the impact of the 
 gospel of Christ she becomes uplifted out of 
 self and sin and the world into fellowship and 
 communion with Himself, a jewel destined to 
 adorn His crown of rejoicing. 
 
 Really great souls are ever held in the grip 
 of a mighty sweep of vision. Having crossed 
 the Rubicon, Caesar sent to his home congress 
 the graphic message : i( Veni, vidi, vici I 
 came, I saw, I conquered." This was but the 
 first milestone in the journey; a little later, as 
 the head of a powerful triumvirate, Caesar 
 shall sway the scepter of supremacy over the 
 mighty Roman empire, and dream of the time 
 when he shall occupy a place among the gods, 
 and enjoy the perpetual worship of the citizens 
 at Rome. 
 
 The dream of Caesar was never fulfilled be- 
 cause it was actuated by self-centered motives. 
 But the unselfish dream of the Galilean, the 
 Author of the gospel of supremacy, is being 
 fulfilled : " He shall not fail nor be discour- 
 aged till He hath set judgment in the earth, 
 and the isles shall wait for His law." 
 
 In the days when Spain had reached suprem- 
 acy among the nations of the earth, having 
 become possessed of the Gibraltar, in a moment 
 
SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST 
 
 of triumph she caused to be inscribed within a 
 scroll on her national coins the words, " Ne 
 plus ultra no more beyond." But after one 
 of her own sons, Columbus, discovered America, 
 destined to become the greatest republic be- 
 neath the sun, in humiliation Spain was com- 
 pelled to strike the negation from her coins, 
 leaving the more significant declaration: 
 " Plus ultra more beyond, more beyond." 
 
 In like manner the foes of the glorious gospel 
 of the Son of God have again and again 
 imagined they have erected a veritable Gib- 
 raltar of opposition to the further progress of 
 the chariot of salvation, and in tones of tri- 
 umph have cried out : " Ne plus ultra no 
 more beyond." But the chariot of salvation 
 has moved steadily forward, and by-and-by the 
 redeemed of the Lord shall look upon the eternal 
 city shall feast their eyes upon the vision 
 of an unending progression, and shall shout in 
 tones of triumph : " More beyond, more be- 
 yond." 
 
 " Jesus shall reign where'er the sun, does His 
 
 successive journeys run; 
 
 His kingdom spread from shore to shore, till 
 moons shall wax and wane no more." 
 
 The supremacy of the gospel, THE SUPREM- 
 ACY OF GOSPEL. 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 
 
" Jesus shall reign where'er the sun, 
 Does his successive journeys run; 
 His kingdom spread from shore to shore, 
 Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 
 
 " America is but another name for opportunity, 
 whose whole history seems to be a last effort of a 
 divine providence in behalf of the human race." 
 
 EMERSON. 
 
 " When Spain came into possession of the Gib- 
 raltar, in a moment of triumph she caused to be 
 inscribed on her coins the words ' Ne plus ultra 
 no more beyond ' ; but when the bold explorer dis- 
 covered the new world, in humiliation she was 
 compelled to strike from her coin the negation, 
 leaving instead the more significant declaration 
 ' Plus ultra more beyond.' ' 
 
 ANON. 
 
 " Thou hast set my feet in a large room." 
 
 PSALM, 31:8. 
 
IX 
 
 " THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 
 
 It had been a glorious journey from start to 
 finish a j ourney under ten flags riding 
 in the heart of the deep for more than 14,000 
 miles, penetrating the domain of historic centers, 
 enthralled by the glamour of cities whose ruins 
 are suggestive of former greatness, learning 
 perfectly " the sign language," that we might 
 converse with heterogeneous peoples, and becom- 
 ing possessed of an enriched experience obtain- 
 able only when " on the wing of travel." 
 
 To be sure, we had not failed to tarry at 
 Rome, once the center of the world's political 
 power; at Athens, the former center of intel- 
 lectual power; at Egypt, the home of the Pha- 
 raohs, the great Sphinx and pyramids not 
 to speak of the Nile of Palestine, that little 
 strip of mountainous country that could easily 
 be lost in the mountain fastnesses of some of 
 our great states, but whose atmosphere is 
 changed with historic interest found nowhere 
 else in the whole world, whose climax of interest 
 centers in the fact that here was the home of 
 133 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
 the lowly Nazarene, the world's Redeemer and 
 Friend. 
 
 And yet, we were glad to get back home ; for 
 had we not lingered in streets narrow, and 
 reeking with filth, the streets of Oriental cities ; 
 mingled with denizens whose appearance was 
 more than synonymous with squalor, wretched- 
 ness, poverty; been brought painfully in touch 
 with the hated system called " caste," so 
 sharply in contrast with the spirit of democracy 
 of our own God-blessed land; so that when our 
 vessel, " S. S. Baltic," steamed into the harbor 
 of New York after an absence of several months, 
 and we caught sight of the stars and stripes 
 and the Statue of Liberty, though it was Sab- 
 bath morning, you ought to have heard us 
 shout. 
 
 No, we were not all Methodists the Metho- 
 dists were in the minority for once; and the 
 staid followers of John Calvin, and the con- 
 servative representatives of New England, the 
 Congregationalists, the good friends who 
 claimed affiliation with the Episcopalian and 
 Baptist faiths, were equally enthusiastic with 
 the followers of John Wesley, who from the 
 cradle to the grave are supposed to be familiar 
 with the spirit of vociferation all, in one 
 long, continued shout that must have made old 
 Boreas hide his face behind his wings, the wind, 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 1&5 
 
 with envy, joined in giving expression to their 
 joy of home-coming. And we better appreci- 
 ated the language of good Dr. Van Dyke, whose 
 words suggested our theme: 
 
 " Oh, its home again, home again, home again for 
 
 me, 
 
 My heart is turning home again, to God's coun- 
 try; 
 To the blessed land of room enough beyond the 
 
 ocean bars, 
 
 Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is 
 full of stars." 
 
 By our firesides through the years to our 
 children and children's children will we engage 
 in the pleasant pastime of regaling our ex- 
 perience abroad, not failing ever to observe the 
 law of contrast, or the law of association 
 of thought which the psalmist must have 
 had in mind when, in speaking of the rich 
 heritage, temporal and spiritual, into which 
 he and his people had come, he said : " He 
 brought me forth into a large place." 
 
 I. EXPANSION THE LAW OF BEING 
 
 Among all the inspiring lessons to be learned 
 by man there is none possessed of greater worth 
 than that in which he beholds the index finger 
 o;f rightful authority pointing at him, pro- 
 
136 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 claiming the sublime truth that expansion is 
 the law of being. No matter how profound 
 the subject matter under discussion, or how 
 much of erudition is possessed by the expositor 
 of the truth at hand, the world has ever grown 
 weary of any argument which is " in a circle," 
 whose horizon is circumscribed, whose point of 
 destination is never lost sight of, being near at 
 hand. 
 
 On the other hand, how the world's heart be- 
 comes enthralled by the argwmentum ad 
 hominem whose sweep of vision is great, whose 
 field of investigation is limitless in scope, and 
 in which, though the world becomes enriched 
 beyond compare as a result of principles mas- 
 tered and applied, it is constantly reminded of 
 the picture of the great philosopher standing 
 on the seashore picking up the pebbles of in- 
 formation conscious of the fact that the 
 boundless deep of further knowledge in endless 
 sweep lies beyond him. 
 
 How the world's heart has become pained 
 an expression of disappointment overspreading 
 the faces of thoughtful, intelligent men as they 
 have listened to a man possessed of the eru- 
 dition of a Huxley saying : " If I could be 
 wound up like an automaton and always keep 
 going, without weariness, always doing the 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 137 
 
 right thing, I would gladly surrender every 
 pleasure in life." 
 
 What a fascinating story is that growing out 
 of the history of the labor-saving devices intro- 
 duced by the world's inventive genius! What 
 a boon to the world at large was the introduc- 
 tion of the printing press, whose leaves of in- 
 formation, like so many autumn leaves, are 
 found falling all about us, keeping us in touch 
 with the trend of human affairs ! Prior to the 
 introduction of this agency, the world consisted 
 of one great community of strangers I say 
 strangers, since space was an isolation of com- 
 munities, cities and nations from each other. 
 Two cities a hundred miles apart in former 
 times possessed habits and customs wholly un- 
 known to each other. Under such existing 
 circumstances but little progress could be made. 
 
 How different to-day. This morning an 
 event of importance has transpired in a distant 
 land; to-morrow morning, or better still, this 
 evening, we will read a full account of it in the 
 associated press dispatches for the news- 
 gatherer of this age is well-nigh omnipresent. 
 And yet, who would become transformed into a 
 printing press, even with the prospect of becom- 
 ing a world wide dispenser of useful inform- 
 ation? Who would be satisfied to become a 
 
138 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 mere automaton, a machine dominated by an- 
 other mind? 
 
 To me there is a perfect fascination growing 
 out of the modern engine. I love to stand be- 
 side one of these; to feel its hot breath upon 
 my cheek ; to hear its pulsating heart throbbing 
 with anxiety to be off on its journey, sugges- 
 tive of the great heart gripping great truths, 
 longing to give expression to the truths, 
 furnishing an impetus to nobler living on the 
 part of his fellows. 
 
 To be sure, we can conceive of an engine 
 so perfectly constructed as to work with clock- 
 like regularity, never growing weary on the 
 longest journey, the expansion of whose lungs 
 of steel sends the iron horse thundering out 
 across the plains, and the ocean steamer plow- 
 ing through the waves of the deep, causing the 
 heart of the engineer gripping the throttle to 
 beat with delight, knowing that his train his 
 vessel will arrive at its destination on time. 
 And yet, who is there who would exchange 
 places with the most perfect engine in the 
 world; who would not prefer to be any form of 
 creeping, walking, flying, swimming animal of 
 earth or sea or sky, rather than to be turned 
 into an engine, a mere piece of machinery con- 
 trolled always by the will of another? 
 
 The sublimest phase of the Creator's design 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 139 
 
 is that in which we witness man, " the proud 
 lord of creation," the crowning feature of in- 
 finite genius, endowed with freedom of the will; 
 who breathes the air of freedom, walks the 
 earth untrammeled reverently speaking, con- 
 scious of the fact that even God Himself would 
 not dare to coerce him to action against his 
 own will. 
 
 Forward, onward, upward; delving deeper, 
 soaring higher, expanding, progressing, ever 
 moving towards the goal ; with pathway flooded 
 by divine inspiration if he will; with guardian 
 angels, " horses and chariots," of protection 
 all about him, if he will; the unseen forces of 
 infinite wisdom, knowledge and power at his 
 disposal, if he will but ever and always 
 exercising his sovereign will as a free moral 
 agent. 
 
 I repeat, it is the law of being to expand. 
 The seed grows into a California tree from 
 twenty-five to thirty-three feet in diameter; the 
 cell expands into a lion, the king of beasts ; the 
 ovum is hatched into an eagle, whose home is 
 among the clouds. 
 
 In like manner man develops in physical 
 powers, in intellectual powers and in spiritual 
 possibilities. " Man is the questioner of the 
 ages the first flash of his eye is an interro- 
 gation point. He chases microscopic atoms 
 
140 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 back through crucial fires to test their genesis, 
 pursues them up through eternity to find their 
 end ; is bold enough to press up to the very 
 throne of the Infinite and demand his right to 
 be, the secret of his purpose, the meaning and 
 outcome of his plan a mote of yesterday, he 
 commands the universe to answer him," and the 
 universe obeys. 
 
 II. PROVISION FOR THE JOURNEY 
 
 In making the journey to " the land of room 
 enough," it is well for the soul to ponder the 
 provision made for the same. 
 
 The naturalist finds an interesting pastime 
 in noting the provision made for the journey 
 extending from the seed to the full-blown 
 flower ; from the acorn to the oak ; from the 
 cocoon to the gossamer wings of the butterfly 
 floating upon the air. 
 
 Who is responsible for this provision? 
 There is but one answer God. God back 
 of the seed, hence the beauty and fragrance of 
 the flower; God back of the acorn, hence the 
 oak; God back of the cocoon, hence the butter- 
 fly. Is it unnatural, therefore, to suppose that 
 back of and responsible for the development of 
 every faculty of the soul in the journey to the 
 land of room enough is God? 
 
 God meant that man should harness the light- 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 
 
 nings, hence the clouds have been charged with 
 electricity from the beginning. God meant that 
 man should find physical sustenance, hence the 
 fertility of the soils. God meant that man 
 should send ships of commerce tramping round 
 the world, hence the highways of the deep. He 
 meant that man should develop the aesthetic 
 taste, hence the landscapes of beauty spread 
 out for him to copy in producing his master- 
 pieces ; hence the music of the spheres from 
 which man has borrowed his material for great 
 oratorios ; hence the materials at hand from 
 which to write immortal dramas. 
 
 God meant that man should have aspirations 
 reaching unto the highest heaven, hence the 
 inducement of immortal capacity. 
 
 God saw the exigency of the fall of man, 
 hence the provision of grace which impover- 
 ished heaven for the enrichment of earth 
 grace which is high as heaven, deep as hell and 
 broad as the need of humankind. 
 
 The tourist who contemplates making a jour- 
 ney across the sea does not make selection of 
 a tugboat; rather does he select a great ocean 
 liner, with all the comforts and conveniences 
 of the modern manse. Not satisfied with pro- 
 viding for the personal comfort of passengers, 
 the owners of great liners have installed wire- 
 less telegraphy, enabling the captains of in- 
 
THE LARGER VISION 
 
 dustry to keep in touch with vast business in- 
 terests in the interim. 
 
 But, oh, that ampler provision in the shape 
 of " the old ship of Zion," on which the soul 
 finds all that is requisite to peace of mind, joy 
 of heart and contentment of life a full as- 
 surance of a " bon voyage " all the way ; whilst 
 on the way provision has been made whereby 
 the soul may whisper up in the ear of God the 
 story of his need, and have whispered back' to 
 him answers of peace and joy, the medium of 
 communication being open and unobstructed 
 by night and by day. 
 
 One of the first considerations in connection 
 with an ocean voyage is that of securing proper 
 passports bearing the seal of the country from 
 which one sails and the seal of the country 
 for which he is bound. 
 
 In like manner the soul, journeying to " the 
 land of room enough," must needs have a pass- 
 port bearing the seal of the kingdom of grace 
 here and the seal of the kingdom of glory yon- 
 der ; hence it is that " God hath set eternity 
 in the heart." " And this is life eternal to 
 know God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast 
 sent into the world." 
 
 Witness, then, the declaration of the noted 
 voyager, the apostle Paul, as he cries out: 
 " There is therefore now no condemnation " 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 143 
 
 no disqualifying clause " to them which are 
 in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, 
 but after the spirit." Witness also his declar- 
 ation touching an entrance into the life be- 
 yond : " For here we have no continuing city, 
 but we seek one to come." 
 
 Prior to entering upon the journey to a 
 distant land, the tourist avails himself of the 
 mediums of information concerning the country 
 to which he would go; consults those who have 
 made the journey, familiarizes himself with 
 Baedeker, etc., getting all the information pos- 
 sible in advance. 
 
 Note then the ample sources of information 
 relative to " the land of room enough." The 
 most reliable source of information on this 
 point is contained in the declaration of the 
 Master Himself : " I go to prepare a place 
 for you, that where I am there ye may be 
 also." 
 
 Is not this sufficient warrant of the ample 
 provision for the soul in the land beyond the 
 stars? If He has gone to prepare a place for 
 us, that ought to suffice. If He who prepared 
 our world home, " whose channels are paved 
 with diamonds, whose banks are fringed with 
 flowers, around which (as a background) are 
 spread suns, moons, worlds, constellations, 
 systems ; all that is sublime in magnitude, all 
 
144 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 that is magnificent in motion, and all that is 
 grand in order and obedience," what will be 
 the character of our eternal home? 
 
 And yet, as if this were not enough, there is 
 given to the soul the prerogative of having " a 
 foretaste of heaven." On the wings of faith 
 he may rise above this mundane sphere; up 
 and on up he may soar until he has reached the 
 sunlit summit of the heights of ineffable glory 
 where, gazing upon the panoramic vision 
 spread out before him, he may exclaim : " Here 
 is my home here, when the tabernacle of clay 
 is dissolved, I shall find a building of God, an 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens." 
 
 III. A CONCLUDING REFLECTION 
 
 Suppose the soul should fail to reach " the 
 land of room enough ; " should become so en- 
 grossed in the things of time and sense as to 
 fail to make preparation for that other and 
 larger life what then ? 
 
 " See yonder astronomer gazing through the 
 telescope upon a distant star the star is five 
 hundred times as large as our earth; but the 
 biggest star in the universe of God is the man 
 looking through the telescope." 
 
 After the last star has fallen asleep, the blue 
 scroll of the heaven having been folded together 
 
" THE LAND OF ROOM ENOUGH " 145 
 
 and rolled away ; " after the death angel shall 
 have flown from world to world, pausing long 
 enough over the wreck of time and sense to 
 murmur, ' Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' " man 
 shall live on, being possessed of immortal capa- 
 city and destined to live forever. 
 
 Suppose, after all the provision which has 
 been made for the journey, man should fail to 
 reach the land " where the flowers bloom for- 
 ever and the sun is always bright." And sup- 
 pose that out yonder, just beyond the range of 
 vision in the twilight of memory, the soul should 
 be found, longing for just one look into the 
 faces of " those whom he has loved and lost " 
 not awhile but forever longing for just one 
 glimpse of " the land of room enough," and 
 longing for the privilege of listening to the 
 music of the immortal choirs but longing in 
 vain what then ? 
 
 Out yonder I will not use the harsh word 
 hell, rather let me say on the isle of memory 
 
 cut off from God and heaven and eternal 
 life to linger through eternal years, recalling 
 that all that belongs to yonder world of life and 
 light might have been his, and are lost to him 
 
 that would be hell enough for any man 
 alone, and yet not alone, for memory, memory, 
 MEMORY, as an accusing agent, shall ever be 
 with him: 
 
146 THE LARGER VISION 
 
 " Of all sad thoughts of voice or pen, 
 The saddest is this, it might have been." 
 
 Oh, soul, hear and heed this message falling 
 from the lips of the great Teacher of men: 
 " For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain 
 the whole world and lose his own soul ; or what 
 shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? " 
 
 " The land of room enough " with its crown 
 of life is held out to thee ; do not miss thy 
 crown DO NOT MISS THY CROWN. 
 
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