diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-8.txt | 4079 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 91662 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 157507 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-h/39546-h.htm | 4234 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 25048 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-h/images/title.jpg | bin | 0 -> 23620 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546-h/images/title_deco.jpg | bin | 0 -> 12094 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546.txt | 4079 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 39546.zip | bin | 0 -> 91636 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
12 files changed, 12408 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/39546-8.txt b/39546-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8c6772 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4079 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Wit and Humor of the Bible + A Literary Study + +Author: Marion D. Shutter + +Release Date: April 27, 2012 [EBook #39546] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + + WIT AND HUMOR + OF THE + BIBLE. + + A LITERARY STUDY. + + + BY + REV. MARION D. SHUTTER, D. D. + + + "Bibles laid open; millions of surprises."--_Herbert._ + + + BOSTON, MASS., + Arena Publishing Company, + COPLEY SQUARE. + 1893. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1892, + BY + MARION D. SHUTTER. + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + + Dedication. + + TO MY WIFE, + MARY WILKINSON SHUTTER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +While "many have taken in hand to set forth in order" the pathos and +sublimity of the Bible, those literary elements comprised under the title +of this book have rarely been mentioned. Feeling that here was a field +untraversed, the author of this little volume began an investigation whose +results were originally embodied in an article published some years ago in +an Eastern review. That article is given in "Poole's Index" as the only +one extant upon the subject. Since its publication, additional study has +brought to light other examples of the use of Wit and Humor by the writers +of the Bible. These later results were embodied in a course of lectures +delivered last winter before the students of Lombard University, +Galesburg, Ill. They are now given to the public in the present volume. It +would be presumptuous to claim that these few pages exhaust the subject. +Such a claim the author does not wish to make. Further research would no +doubt bring to light instances that have escaped him. It is hoped, +however, that these studies may be sufficiently complete to awaken +interest in a long-neglected side of our sacred literature. + +MARION D. SHUTTER. + + Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 24, 1892. + First Universalist Church. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +"There is still one question before us. If humor be what we have claimed +for it, not a mere farce, but the depicting of the whole of human life, +then we should expect that the highest literature should be found to +contain it. We should expect to find it everywhere; that it should satisfy +all that desire which a reading in theology, or philosophy, or science, or +history, or a study in art, has created in man. Are there, then, any great +books, or still more any great forces in human life which seem devoid of +it? Is there any humor in the gospels? This is a dilemma that must be +faced; for if humor be life itself, how can human life in its highest +development dispense with it?"--_Shorthouse._ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + "Even St. Paul could invent and enjoy a humorous pun; the proof of + which see Galatians V:12, in the original; so there is high authority + for jesting."--_Kirke._ + + +The title of this book will no doubt affect many persons unpleasantly at +first. "Flat blasphemy!" I can hear some one exclaim, "We have already had +the authority of the Bible undermined by critics, and here is a flippant +rogue who goes still farther, and assures us that it is nothing more than +a jest-book! This is the very climax and culmination of godless folly." + +The author makes haste, therefore, to disclaim any intention of +irreverence. To cheapen or degrade sacred things, to "depreciate the moral +currency," is at the farthest remove from his intention. It is easy enough +to take the language of Scripture and use it for coarse and vulgar +purposes, and such use deserves the severest censure. It is not to be +tolerated. Passages that have been light and guidance to multitudes, that +have brought strength to the tempted, certainty to the doubting and +consolation to the bereaved; that have been bread of life to those who +have hungered for righteousness, inspiration to the purposeless and help +to the needy,--have been turned into sources of merriment to freshen +exhausted wit, and season the insipid discourse of stupidity. Persons +whose brains are barren of pleasant conceits find no difficulty in so +perverting a Scriptural expression as to make the "groundlings" laugh. In +no such motives has this volume originated. The title has been chosen and +the work which it covers has been done in the spirit of one who loves the +Great Book, and who would secure for it an additional claim upon human +affection. The studies of the writer have led him into fresh fields and +pastures green, where he has gathered many things out of the ordinary that +have given the Bible a larger place in his own heart. + +No; the Bible is not a collection of jests; nor do we characterize it as a +jest-book when we say that it contains Wit and Humor. These elements are +in the Bible, and with good reason. They are not introduced to amuse. They +are not intended to dissipate the weariness of an idle hour. They are not +designed to produce convulsions of laughter. They are subsidiary to the +main theme. They are incidental to the development of religious history +and religious thought. They help reveal in their true light the characters +who from time to time appear; they show the absurdity of the opposing +error and sharpen the arrows with which folly is transfixed. They enhance +in many ways the value and power of our Sacred Book. + + +I. + +The Scripture documents may be viewed from several +standpoints;--historical, exegetical, theological and literary. One may, +for example, study the book of Job to find out the actual basis of fact +that underlies it, or for the purpose of ascertaining and systematizing +its doctrines, or he may read it as a great dramatic poem, and criticize +it by the rules that would apply to any other dramatic poem. He may go +through the Apocalypse, grammar and lexicon in hand, or he may study its +flashing imagery as he would that of any other magnificent work of genius. +He may read the Psalms as he would the odes of Horace. In these pages the +Scriptures are considered simply as Literature. The question of +inspiration or authority does not enter. Doctrinal inquiries are set +aside. "To understand," says Matthew Arnold, "that the language of the +Bible is fluid, passing, literary, is the first step towards a right +understanding of the Bible." + +The literary character of the Bible is admirably set forth in the +following paragraph from a recent critic: + + "As a particular book, the Bible is an unequaled source of literary + inspiration. As a book of religious truth, it is supreme; but + religious truth, without any impairment of its value or obscurity of + its meaning, may be studied from the literary standpoint; in fact, in + the light of literary criticism, or tested by the usual canons of the + scholar, it will appear more sacred, more beautiful, more divine. + Never forgetting that it is our manual of religion, it is also the + vehicle of the most wonderful literature in human annals, and precedes + in importance all others. There is no book so composite in character + and yet so harmonious in plan, so multiplex in styles and yet so + educational in rhetoric and logic, so varied in contents and yet so + progressive in its philosophy and religion, as the Bible. Taken as a + whole, it is massive, comprehensive, a revelation of the Infinite. + Studied in its parts, it stimulates single faculties while it + ministers nourishment to the whole frame. Its histories are more + compact than those of Herodotus, Gibbon or Macaulay; its poetry, whose + key is a mystery, quiets Homer, Shakespeare and Tennyson; its + prophecies are unique climaxes of wisdom, both in drapery and + substance; its biographies excel those of Plutarch, Irving, Carlyle + and Boswell; its chronicles of wars are superior to those of Julius + Cæsar, Wellington, Napoleon, and Ulysses Grant; its epistles eclipse + those of Pliny, Madame Sevigne and Francis Bacon; its laws, in their + ethical and spiritual import, are quite beyond Justinian, Blackstone + and the English Parliament. Every phasis of literature, every norm of + wisdom, is in the Bible. It ministers to all tastes and arouses the + slumbering intellects of all who can comprehend the difference between + reality and fiction, and who incline to virtue rather than vice. + Ruskin confesses his indebtedness to the Bible, Homer and Sir Walter + Scott, for his mental discipline; Charles Reade pronounces the + characters in Scripture a literary marvel. Matthew Arnold daily read + the New Testament in Greek for its style; Milton could not have + written Paradise Lost without Genesis; Renan's witchery of style is + traceable to the New Testament. Job has taught the poets the art of + construction, and David has sung an undying melody into the ears of + the race. The Book of Ruth is the model idyl, and the Books of Esther + and Daniel abound in incomparable dramatic elements; Isaiah has plumed + the statesman for oratorical flights; Jeremiah has opened the + fountains of pathos and sentiment in pathetic souls; Ezekiel has + furnished a usable style of judicial denunciation for the criminal + lawyer. Of all books, whether rhetoric, logic, vocabulary, poetry, + philosophy, history, or whatever be the end, the Bible should be first + and most carefully studied, its literary spirit and form should be + closely traced and discerned, and its truth should be reverently + incorporated into the daily speech, thought and life." + +But in this summary there is no mention made of the literary qualities +which it is here proposed to consider. They are as completely ignored as +if the very suggestion of their presence were profanation. + + +II. + +The presumption is that in such a book, or rather collection of books as +the Bible, the elements of Wit and Humor would be found. We have here the +best historical, poetical, and moral works of a whole people. These +documents cover in time more than a millennium and a half. It is more than +probable that during that time amusing incidents occurred, even in +connection with the religious trend of the history, some of which would be +reported; that grotesque and odd characters existed, some of whom would be +described, and their sayings and doings noted; that among the moral +teachers of the people, there were some at least, who would point their +precepts with wit and edge their rebukes with sarcasm. We should expect to +find all these things, as we should expect to find pathos or sublimity. +The humorous is just as legitimate in literature and quite as much an +element of influence. It glows in all the other great books which have +shaped the life and thought of mankind; and it is only fair to presume +that we shall find its light shining from those pages that have been most +potent of all. + +But is not "the volume of this book" a serious one? Is it not profoundly +in earnest? Are not its themes most solemn? Is not its purpose the highest +under heaven, the most important to the inhabitants of earth? The +conclusion, however, that the questioner has in mind is by no means +inevitable. It is a mistake to suppose that humor is incompatible with +seriousness, earnestness and solemnity. "As in one of my lectures," says +Henry Reed, "I spoke of attempting to draw too precise a line around +sacred literature, making it too much a thing apart, so in regard to the +literature of wit and humor. I shall be very sorry, if such a title as +that which I have been obliged to use, led any one to think of it as of a +more distinctive existence than is the case, instead of regarding those +faculties as pervading the literature in various degrees, and thus forming +some of the elements of its life. I shall have occasion to trace these +elements in close connection with elements of tragedy, and to show how the +processes we generalize under the names of wit and humor are kindred with +the most intense passion and the deepest feeling." + +In human nature, the sources of laughter and tears lie close together, and +the highest literature must express that nature in its entirety. "It is +an understood fact," says Whipple, "that mirth is as innate in the mind as +any other original faculty. The absence of it in individuals or +communities is a defect." "He who laughs," says the mother of Goethe, "can +commit no deadly sin." If it be true as Whipple says, that the absence of +mirth in individuals or communities is a defect, then is the absence of it +in literature likewise a defect. It is a defect because the literature +which omits it fails to set forth all that there is in man. It leaves an +important territory unexplored. + +On the other hand, the literature which is designed to move and mold men +must be addressed to human nature in its completeness. Freighted with +destiny, charged with eternity as are the messages of the Bible, they are +yet intended to impress men; they are addressed to human faculties in +human speech. Whatever the capacities of language for touching the heart +and operating upon the will, they may all be employed, though the theme +soar to heaven or take hold on hell. The Bible is not an instrument of a +single string; it gives forth a thousand harmonies. It is attuned to every +note in human nature. + + +III. + +Thus far we have simply dealt with the presumption. The considerations +advanced show us what we might expect to find. When we proceed from +presumption to actual investigation, our conjectures are verified. There +are certainly passages in the Bible which in any other writings we should +call Wit and Humor. Since this is the case, our discussion is legitimate, +however repugnant the very suggestion may be to the feelings with which we +are accustomed to regard the Bible. + +Let us take some examples. If we found in any other book such a saying as +this, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a +stinking savor, so doth a little folly him that is in great reputation for +wisdom and honor," should we not call it witty? Is it not witty as the +Russian proverb "A spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey?" + +Or consider such sentences as the following: "All the labor of a man is +for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not filled." "As he that taketh +away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that +singeth songs to a heavy heart." "Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but +afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." "He that answereth a +matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." "A man of +great wrath shall suffer punishment; for if thou deliver him, yet must +thou do it again." In other words, a man of violent temper is always +getting into difficulties; you have no sooner helped him out of one than +he madly plunges into another. Like the irascible person in the old +nursery rhyme, who jumped into a bramble bush and scratched out both his +eyes, he is no sooner extricated, than "with all his might and main, he +jumps into another bush and puts them out again." "Can a man take fire in +his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can he go upon hot coals and his +feet not be burned?" "Wealth makes many friends, but the poor is +separated from his neighbor." "He that passeth by and meddleth with strife +belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears." If we +came upon such sentences in Johnson or Goldsmith, we should say in a +moment that they were instances of genuine wit. Let us not hesitate to +carry the same frankness of literary judgment to the Bible. When Isaiah +characterizes certain ones as "mighty to drink wine and men of strength to +mingle strong drink," does he not use essentially the same reproach that +Prince Hal fastened upon Falstaff, "Wherein is he good but to taste sack +and drink it?" Who shall say that the earlier satire did not suggest the +later? Much has been written about Shakespeare's indebtedness to the +Bible. + +Here is a passage of biting sarcasm from Job. We should surely call it +sarcasm if we found it in the pages of Robert South. Job is expressing his +scorn for those who affect to look down upon him in his adversities: "But +now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I +would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." They are "the +children of fools, yea, children of base men; they were viler than the +earth." (We have an equivalent expression in "meaner than dirt.") They are +members of the long-eared fraternity. He does not say so in the bluntest +form of expression that can be used, and that any one less skillful would +have used. Job puts it much more effectively: "Among the bushes they +_brayed_; under the _nettles_ they were gathered together." "If that is +not wit," says one, "there is no such thing as wit. And yet the +commentators do not see it, or will not see it. They are perfectly wooden +when they come to any such gleam of humor." + +There is a bit of ridicule in Jeremiah that we should be quick to call +ridicule, if we came upon it elsewhere. He is describing the disasters +that fell upon the allies of the King of Egypt. "Why are the strong ones +swept away? They stood not because the Lord did thrust them down. He made +them to stumble, yea they fell one upon another; and they said, Arise, and +let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from +the oppressing sword." They are defeated in spite of all the promises of +the King of Egypt. He does not seem to avail them. His boasts are +ineffectual. His disgusted allies depart, flinging at him the withering +reproach, "_Pharoah, King of Egypt, is but a noise_; he hath let the +appointed time pass by." That is to say, according to one paraphrase, +"Pharoah is of no account now, he has had his chance and lost it; he has +outlived his influence; his day is over; he is not a sovereign any longer; +he is only a noise." Or as Matthew Henry puts it, "Pharoah can hector and +talk big; but that is all; all his promises vanish into smoke." In the +same spirit, Queen Catherine says of the dead Wolsey, + + "His promise was as he then was, mighty; + But his performance, as he now is, nothing." + +If we found a little sketch like the following in Thackeray, we should, +beyond doubt, pronounce it humorous: "All the brethren of the poor do hate +him; how much more do his friends go far from him. He pursueth them with +words, yet are they wanting to him." The words of a poor man can not +travel fast enough to overtake his rich friends and neighbors. Indeed, +Thackeray has drawn such a picture in his more elaborate description of +Harry Warrington in the sponging-house, making vain appeals for help to +his rich relatives and friends. "He pursued them with words, yet were they +wanting to him." His aunt,--"a member of the great and always established +Church of the Pharisees, sent him her blessing,--and a tract!" + +If we found, in any modern literature, a sketch of the ruling deacon in a +church, like John's description of Diotrephus, we should say it was tinged +with satire. "I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephus, _who loveth to have +the pre-eminence among them_, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I +will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious +words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the +brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, _and casteth them out of the +Church_." Evidently there was a deacon in one of the apostolic churches, +who always had to be consulted. Everything must go as he dictated. He did +not even stand in awe of an accredited apostle. The minister must preach +according to his views of theology, or signify his willingness to accept a +call to a new field. Those members of the church who upheld a minister +whom Diotrephus did not like, found their connection with the body severed +without the formality of asking their consent. In the matter of having a +Diotrephus within their borders, some churches to-day find themselves in +the direct line of apostolic succession. + +In the book of Acts, there is an account of Paul's reception at Athens. +"And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know +what this new doctrine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest +certain strange things to our ears; we would know, therefore, what these +things mean." In the comment which follows this account, the writer +indulges in a touch of ridicule upon the Athenian gossips and curiosity +mongers. We should say it was a touch of ridicule if we found it in +Addison. "For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, _spent +their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new +thing_." Indeed there is a sketch in Addison of which this might easily +have been the ground-work. "There is no humor of my countrymen which I am +more inclined to wonder at than _their general thirst after news_. A +victory or defeat is equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a +cardinal's mouth pleaseth them one post, and the opening of it another. +They are delighted to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are +afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the +advertisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public news; and +are as pleased to hear of a pye-bald horse that is strayed out of a field +near Islington, as of a whole troop that has been engaged in any foreign +adventure. In short, _they have a relish for anything that is news_, let +the matter of it be what it will. _They are men of a voracious appetite._" +Is not the comment of the Scriptural writer upon the Athenians in the +same vein with Addison's comment upon the English? + +Isaiah rebukes those "who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness +for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for +bitter,"--thus confusing moral distinctions. This is the same sort of +sophistry that Addison exposes, in his gentle way, by proposing the +following form of agreement: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed, do +solemnly declare that we do in our consciences believe that two and two +make four; and that we shall adjudge any man whatever to be our enemy who +endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We are likewise ready to +maintain, with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is +less than seven in all times and at all places; and that ten will not be +more three years hence than it is at present. We do also firmly declare +that it is our resolution as long as we live to call Black black and White +white. _And we shall upon all occasions oppose such persons that upon any +day of the year shall call Black white or White black, with the utmost of +our lives and fortunes._" The rebuke, in both cases, is the same. + + +IV. + +What do these illustrations show? "That the Bible is, on the whole, a +humorous book? Far from it. That religion is a humorous subject? that we +are to throw all the wit we can into the treatment of it? No. But they +show that the sense of the ludicrous is put into man by his Maker; that it +has its uses; that we are not to be ashamed of it;" that we are not to be +horrified at the mention of it in connection with things we deem most +sacred. They show that the literature of the Bible contains the same +elements that in any other literature we call Wit and Humor. They show us, +also, that wit and humor do not of necessity produce hearty laughter or +boisterous mirth; not always do they manifest themselves in "gibes and +gambols and flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar." Those, +therefore, who may expect something in these chapters that will shake +one's sides with jollity, or make him "laugh till his face be like a wet +cloak ill laid up," will doubtless be disappointed. Wit and humor often +lie too deep for laughter, as pathos often lies too deep for tears. + +No attempt is here made at exact definition of the two words that are +prominent in the general title of this book. Perhaps after they have +passed through their final analysis we shall not be any wiser than before +we cast them into the alembic. Barrow says of Humor: "It is a thing so +versatile and multiform that it seems no less hard to settle a clear and +certain notion thereof, than to make a portrait of Proteus or to define +the figure of the fleeting air." We usually include under the general term +all forms of pleasantry, grotesqueness, drollery, sarcasm, irony, +ridicule. Our common acceptation shall serve us in these studies. + +"There are many things," says Prof. Matthews, "that definition helps us to +understand, but there are other things that we understand better than we +can any possible definition of them; among these are the cold, sparkling, +mercurial thing we call wit, and that genial, juicy, unconscious thing we +call humor." + +With these preliminary observations, we proceed to examine the subject in +detail: + + "Are there not two points in the adventure of the diver? + One when a beggar he prepares to plunge; + The other when a prince he rises with his pearl? + Festus, I plunge." + + + + +II. CHARACTER SKETCHES. + + + "----Now, by two-headed Janus, + Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time; + Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, + And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper; + And other of such vinegar aspect, + That they'll not show their teeth by way of smile, + Tho' Nestor swore the jest were laughable."-- + _Merchant of Venice._ + + + + +CHARACTER SKETCHES. + + "With what prudence does the Son of Sirach caution us in the choice of + our friends. And with what strokes of Nature, (I could almost say of + Humour,) has he described the behavior of a treacherous and + self-interested friend!"--_Addison._ + + +"The history of the ancient Hebrews," says George Eliot, "gives the idea +of a people who went about their business and their pleasures as gravely +as a society of beavers; the smile and laugh are often mentioned +metaphorically; but the smile is one of complacency, the laugh of scorn." + +Against the authority of so illustrious a name, the writer of these pages +confesses a somewhat different impression. It is difficult to believe that +such sentiments as the following could have arisen among a people whose +only smile was that of complacency, whose only laughter that of scorn: + +"He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." + +"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." + +"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." + +"Go thy way; eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry +heart." + +"The voice of mirth," "the voice of gladness" are phrases of frequent +occurrence. The ancient Hebrews believed that there was a "time to laugh" +as well as a "time to weep." Grave and serious as they were, there must +have been in them, after all, something sunny and pleasant. They did not +find the heavens forever black and the earth forever cheerless. + +When we turn to the historical and biographical portions of Scripture, we +find here and there a bit of quaintness and drollery in pictures of life +and delineations of character that must have brought to the faces of those +who read them or heard them smiles other than those of complacency; that +must have been enjoyed with laughter other than that of scorn. + +Mr. Shorthouse says, "Nature and humor do not lie far apart; the source +and spring of humor is human life." "The essence of humor," Carlyle +remarks, "is sensibility; warm, tender fellow-feeling with all forms of +existence." "The man of humor," writes another distinguished critic, +"seeing at one glance the majestic and the mean, the serious and the +laughable; indeed, interpreting what is little or ridiculous by light +derived from its opposite idea, delineates character as he finds it in +life, without any impertinent intrusion of his own indignation or +approval." + +The writers of the Bible sketched manners and traits as they found them. +Their pencils were faithful to nature. They reported what they saw. The +features which provoke the smile, as well as those which move us to +admire, condemn or weep, are pictured on their canvas. They had an eye for +the ludicrous side of life, as well as for its more sober aspects. So, +genial is much of their--often unconscious--humor, so far removed from +bitterness or scorn, that it should seem as if Addison and Irving might +have drawn some of their inspiration from these old Hebrews. + +In this chapter we shall give some illustrations from their sketches of +character. + + +I.--ABIMELECH. + +In the time of the Judges the unprincipled Abimelech contrived to have +himself proclaimed king in Shechem. Knowing his unfitness for the throne, +and vexed at his successful machinations, Jotham, a man of ready wit, +ridicules the pretensions of the monarch and the folly of the people, in +an admirable fable. Addison says: "Fables were the first pieces of wit +that made their appearance in the world, and have been still highly +valued, not only in times of the greatest simplicity, but among the most +polite ages of mankind. Jotham's fable of the Trees is the oldest that is +extant, and as beautiful as any that have been made since that time." + +Perching himself upon the top of a hill, that his parable may not be +brought to an untimely end, he speaks to the multitude: "The Trees went +forth on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said to the Olive +Tree, Reign thou over us. But the Olive Tree said unto them, Should I +leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and men, and go to be +promoted over the Trees? Then said the Trees unto the Fig Tree, Come thou +and reign over us. But the Fig Tree said unto them, Should I forsake my +sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the Trees? Then +said the Trees unto the Vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the Vine +said unto them, Should I leave my wine which cheereth God and Man, and go +to be promoted over the Trees?" Thus far the Trees have been unsuccessful. +They have found among their fellows of the forest no available candidate +whose character and record are good. They anticipated a difficulty of more +modern times. But they are becoming desperate. They are determined to have +a king. In this extremity what step do they take? "Then said all the Trees +unto the _Bramble_, Come thou and reign over us." The Bramble cannot plead +business. It cannot say, as do the Olive and Fig and Vine, "I am of some +better use." There is no reason, so far as any beneficent occupation is +concerned, why it should not be king. The offer is eagerly accepted, and +the pompous bush delivers itself of this high and mighty coronation +address: "If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your +trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the Bramble and +destroy the cedars of Lebanon!" + +This Bramble, Jotham explains, represents Abimelech, while the misguided +trees are the men of Shechem. Having made this application, Jotham became +convinced that his mission was ended, and abandoned Mount Gerezim for a +place of greater security. "And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer +and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother." He did not wait to see +what impression he had made. He was willing to let his story, moral and +all, take care of itself; for in that day, as in every subsequent age, +there was no room for a satirist in the kingdom of an incompetent ruler. + + +II.--SAMSON. + +Farther on in the book of Judges, we have the portrait of Samson. How +quaintly is the character drawn! A great lubberly, good-natured giant, but +now and then bursting out into fits of unreasoning and uncontrolled +anger,--not unlike Ajax in the play. He is constantly making himself +ridiculous in his love affairs. + +In _Love's Labor Lost_, the following dialogue occurs:-- + + "ARMADO.--Comfort me, boy. What great men have been in love? + + "MOTH.--Hercules, Master. + + "ARM.--Most sweet Hercules! More authority dear boy, name more; and + sweet my child, let them be men of good repute and carriage. + + "MOTH.--Samson, Master; he was a man of good carriage, for he raised + the town gates on his back like a porter; and he was in love." + +He tries to joke in clumsy riddles: "Out of the eater came forth meat, out +of the strong came forth sweetness." But his jokes were usually of a more +practical and even more disastrous kind. L'Estrange, in his _History of +Humor_, says: "The first character in the records of antiquity that seems +to have had anything quaint or droll about it is that of Samson. Standing +out amid the confusion of legendary times, he gives us good specimens of +the fierce, wild kind of merriment relished in ancient days; and was very +fond of making very sanguinary sport for the Philistines. He was an +exaggeration of a not very uncommon type of man in which brute strength is +joined to loose morals and whimsical fancy. People were more inclined to +laugh at sufferings formerly than now, because they were not keenly +sensitive to pain, and also had less feeling and consideration for others. +That Samson found some malicious kind of pleasure and diversion in his +reprisals on his enemies and made his misfortunes minister to his +amusement, is evident from the strange character of his exploits. 'He +caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, +and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails, and when he had set +the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the +Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and also the standing corn of +the Philistines, with the vineyards and olives.' On another occasion, he +allowed himself to be bound with cords and thus apparently delivered +powerless into the hands of his enemies; he then broke his bonds 'like +flax that was burnt with fire,' and taking the jawbone of an ass which he +found, slew a thousand men with it. His account of this massacre shows +that he regarded it in a humorous light: 'With the jawbone of an ass, +heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass, I have slain a thousand +men.' We might also refer to his carrying away the gates of Gaza to the +top of a hill that is before Hebron, and to his duping Delilah about the +seven green withes. * * * Samson was evidently regarded as a droll fellow +in his day." + +What a touch of human nature there is in the scene between Samson and his +wife, when she asks for the solution of that wretched riddle! "Thou dost +but hate me," is her reproach, "and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a +riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it to me." What! +is there a domestic storm already brewing? There is something of a +thunderclap in the angry retort of the husband: "Behold, I have not told +it to my father and my mother," (as if that would make any difference to +her!) "and shall I tell it to thee?" Comparisons of this sort are but +little noted for their conciliatory tendencies, and so we are fully +prepared for what follows: "_And she wept before him_ the seven days while +the feast lasted." Poor Samson is not proof against woman's tears. He +could rend the lion as a kid, and carry off the gates of Gaza as easily as +a shepherd could bear a lamb upon his shoulders, but his superhuman +strength is of no avail against "women's weapons, water-drops." We are not +surprised to find that "it came to pass on the seventh day _he told her_." +Thus did conjugal quarrels end in the time of the Judges. + +But if Samson was worsted in the encounter with his wife, he scored a +victory against the Philistines who had frightened her into telling them +the answer to the riddle. When they came with an air of insolent triumph +and said: "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?" +he rather impolitely retorted,--traces of gall and wormwood at his recent +humiliation by his wife still rankling in his mind,--"If ye had not +ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle." But he paid the +debt of honor he owed them, the wager he had lost. "He went down to +Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil and gave +changes of raiment unto them which expounded the riddle." Thersites would +have said of him as he did of Achilles, "His wit was his sinew." Samson +had wonderful muscular power of repartee. + +On another occasion Samson amused himself by telling monstrous lies about +the secret of his strength: "If they bind me with seven green withes that +were never dried, then shall I be weak and be as another man;" "if they +bind me fast with new ropes;" "if thou weavest the seven locks of my head +with the web;" and so on. As Prince Hal said of the stories of his boon +companion, "These lies are like the father that begets them; gross as a +mountain, open, palpable." Delilah, wearied with these practical jokes, +exclaims at last, "How canst thou say 'I love thee,' when thine heart is +not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me +wherein thy great strength lieth." Then she began a course of teasing and +entreaty that finally proved successful. "It came to pass when she pressed +him daily with her words, _so that his soul was vexed unto death_, that he +told her all his heart." Samson was great physically, but so weak mentally +and morally that he is continually reducing himself to an absurd +spectacle. He could not resist Delilah's persistent importunities, nor had +he sufficient resolution to betake himself from the presence of +temptation. He had, no doubt, laughed loud and long at the victims of his +huge falsehoods, but he is finally harassed by a woman whose reproaches +and entreaties are like "a continual dropping on a rainy day," into +telling the fatal truth. Upon the whole, as we look upon the portrait of +Samson, we find it impossible to respect him. We can only smile at his +folly. The one flash of genuine nobility comes at the last. "Nothing in +his life became him like the leaving it." After all, that heroic death +more than half redeems the vacillating career it closes. + + +III.--NABAL. + +There is quite a different character in the first book of Samuel. His name +is Nabal. The word itself means "fool;" and the man's wife, Abigail, +volunteered the opinion that it was a very accurate description of her +husband: "_As his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name and folly is with +him_." He is self-satisfied, hard-headed, irritable, obstinate. We are +told that he was "churlish and evil in his doings." He is blunt in speech, +rude, and even boorish in manners. He stands out of the story like an old, +gnarled tree. It would not be a matter of marvel if he suggested to +Fielding the character of Squire Western. They have many points in common. +The servants of Nabal are afraid of him: "He is such a son of Belial that +a man cannot speak to him!" He is fond of wine, and sometimes falls +asleep over his cups. When David asks a favor of him, he exclaims: "Who is +David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that +break away, every man from his own master!" As much as to say, "The +country is full of runaways and tramps, and how do I know but this David +is one of them?" Then he goes on--"Shall I take my bread and my water, and +my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I +know not whence they be?" Let this David look out for himself; it is all +that I can do to provide for my own family and servants! How exactly in +the Squire Western vein: "It's well for un I could not get at un; I'd +spoiled his caterwauling; I'd a taught un to meddle with meat for his +master. He shan't ever have a morsel of meat of mine, or a varden to buy +it with!" Just the man, after he has stormed his life away, to die of +apoplexy! And Nabal _did_ die suddenly, a few days after he had been "very +drunken." + + +IV.--JONAH. + +There are some elements of genuine humor in the story of Jonah. Whatever +may be thought of the miraculous portions of the narrative, the character +of the shirking and whimpering prophet is faithfully drawn. He first tries +to escape the command of the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish, but finds that +he who runs away from duty runs into danger. Thoroughly alarmed by the +disastrous outcome of his attempt to get away from responsibility, he +finally goes to Nineveh, but is not reconciled to his task. He did not go +because he was anxious to serve the Ninevites, but because he wished to +avert further danger from himself. He is in just the mood to complain of +everything, to snatch at any straw of justification for his former +conduct. Contrary to his expectations, and even, it must be confessed, to +his secret wishes, the Ninevites were moved to repentance by his +half-hearted preaching, with its undertone of grumbling, and God forgave +them and turned away the threatened destruction of their city. But when +the forty days expire, and the city does not fall, Jonah is angry, and he +insists that he does well to be angry. He has been obliged to trudge +through the streets of the city day after day shouting his predictions of +doom, and now he is denied the poor satisfaction of seeing the bolts fall +from heaven in vengeance. He has even gone so far as to prepare for +himself a booth in a safe place, under whose shadow he might sit and enjoy +the spectacle,--"where he might see what would become of the city." And +now there is nothing to come of it all! "It displeased Jonah exceedingly +and he was very angry." Surely the Lord is not considerate of the feelings +of his prophet. Jonah's pent-up displeasure breaks forth: "I pray thee, O +Lord, was not this my saying while I was yet in mine own country?" Did I +not tell you so? Did I not say then and there how this whole affair would +turn out? "Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish." Why should I blister +under the sun of Nineveh, when I might take mine ease in Tarshish? "For I +knew that Thou art a gracious God, slow to anger and of great kindness +and repentest thee of the evil,"--too good-natured to do this thing! And +now that I have come, my prophecy has failed and my mission is a farce. +These wretches are spared and the prophet of God is a laughing-stock! "I +do well to be angry, even unto death!" He goes farther: "I beseech thee, +take away my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." +It is better to die than to be made ridiculous. Nothing could reconcile +Jonah, just then, to the thought of further existence. Like Mr. Mantilini, +he was determined to become a "body." + + +V.--ABSALOM. + +We must not pass by that exquisite likeness of the demagogue in Second +Samuel. "Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate; and +it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for +judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? +and he said, Thy servant is one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said +unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no one deputed +of the king to hear thee." Things are getting very loose in the +government; the country is going to the dogs. The present administration +has been so long in power, that it has grown careless of the interests of +the people. Absalom said, moreover, "O that I were made Judge in the land; +that any man which hath any suit or any cause might come unto me, and I +would do him justice!" We need a change. Put our party in power and see +whether the rights of the people will not be better regarded; see whether +there will not be reform in all departments of the government, and better +times in the nation. "And it was so that when any man came to him to do +him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him." Really, +here we have the origin of the hand shaking candidate of to-day. Here are +the beginnings of that cajolery of the "poor laboring man," "the honest +farmer," "the oppressed people," which the modern aspirant to office so +earnestly affects. "And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that +came unto the King for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of +Israel." In one point the comparison between Absalom and his later +imitators fails. Absalom, it will be remembered, closed his career by +getting hung upon a tree. It is greatly to be regretted that many of our +modern demagogues do not complete the parallel. + + +VI.--SHIMEI. + +If Absalom is a type of the demagogue, Shimei surely is a type of the +sycophant. While David was in power, Shimei was devoted. When David was +supplanted by the scheming Absalom and went forth heart-broken and weary +from the city where he had reigned, Shimei basely deserts him to become +the tool of Absalom, and heaps insults upon the head of the fallen +monarch. Here is a specimen of his conduct and language: "He cast stones +at David and at the servants of King David. * * * And thus said Shimei +when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man and thou man of +Belial: the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of +Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the +kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy +mischief because thou art a bloody man." This exhibition of meanness +rouses the just wrath of Abishai, who wishes to put an effectual stop to +the miserable proceeding: "Why should this dead dog curse my lord, the +King? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." But David +forbids, and Shimei secure in the continued possession of his head +followed after David and his men and "cursed as he went, and threw stones +at him and cast dust." But the scene changes. Absalom lies dead under a +heap of stones in the forest. David is returning to Jerusalem as king. A +boat has carried him across the Jordan. Who is this that meets him as he +lands and fawns upon him? The wretch who stoned and cursed him the other +day. It is Shimei who forsook him and pelted him when he was unfortunate, +but who returns to offer, "in a bondman's key," his humble services when +David is restored to power. "Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me, +neither do thou remember that which thy servant did, the day that my lord +the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart." Do +not grieve over it, do not take it too sorely. I admit that it was rather +hasty and ill-advised. "For thy servant doth know that I have sinned." To +be sure I threw some stones, and kicked up a little dust, and swore a few +oaths,--very inconsiderate it seems now; but I am willing to forget the +whole affair. And see what splendid atonement I offer! "_Behold, I am come +first this day of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my Lord, the +King._" Think of that! Ah, it is "my lord, the king" to-day; no longer a +"man of Belial." My lord the king can grant favors. Any little trifle of +an office for which he may want an incumbent would be considered. +Remember, "_I am come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to go +down to meet my lord the king_." + +Sterne says: "The wheel turns round once more; Absalom is cast down, and +David returns in peace. Shimei suits his behavior to the occasion, and is +the first man also who hastens to greet him; and had the wheel turned +round a hundred times, Shimei, I dare say, in every period of its rotation +would have been uppermost." Then he adds: "O Shimei, would to heaven when +thou wast slain, that all thy family had been slain with thee and not one +of thy resemblance left. But ye have multiplied exceedingly and +replenished the earth; and if I prophesy rightly, ye will in the end +subdue it. Go where you will, in every quarter, in every profession, you +see a Shimei following the wheels of the fortunate through thick mire and +clay." + +It is not claimed that the writers of the Bible drew these portraits for +the purpose of making ludicrous those whom they painted, but the features +were in the originals, and they who wrote were simply faithful to nature. +They portrayed what they saw. They did not blind themselves to facts; and +now worthless usurper, weak-willed giant, churlish country squire of +Palestine, grumbling prophet, scheming demagogue and oily sycophant live +forever on their canvas. "Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature _hath_ framed +strange fellows in her time;" and some of those "strange fellows" lived in +Judea thousands of years ago. + + + + +III. "TOUCHES OF NATURE." + + +"The ludicrous has its place in the Universe; it is not a human invention, +but one of the Divine ideas, illustrated in the practical jokes of kittens +and monkeys, long before Aristophanes or Shakespeare."--HOLMES. + + + + +"TOUCHES OF NATURE." + + + "To explain the nature of laughter and tears is to account for the + condition of human life; for it is in a manner compounded of these + two. It is tragedy or comedy, sad or merry, as it happens."--HAZLITT. + + +"One touch of nature," says Shakespeare, "makes the whole world kin;" but +the great dramatist did not define exactly what he meant by "touch of +nature," and the critics of many generations have been at war over the +question. Perhaps he could not have told us, even if he had tried,--any +more than the critics can tell us. When Democritus was asked his +definition of a man, his only reply was, "A man is that which we all see +and know." Further than this the philosopher could not proceed. But while +Shakespeare has not given us a definition, he has given us an +illustration: + + "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,-- + That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds, + Tho' they are made and moulded of things past; + And give to dust that is a little gilt + More laud than gilt o'erdusted." + +The whole world is kin in this, that all with one consent inexcusably +forget the substantial past and praise the present folly, if that folly be +well tricked out. Humanity proves its oneness by its foibles as well as by +its virtues. "Foolery, sir, doth walk about the orb; like the sun it +shineth everywhere." Things deserving of laughter and things intended to +provoke it have always been happening; and the faculties by which men +perceive the foolish and ludicrous have always existed in human nature. + + "Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, + Nods and becks and wreathed smiles, + Sport that wrinkled care derides, + And laughter holding both his sides,"-- + +all these were in the past as well as in the present. They are "touches of +nature" that "make the whole world kin." + +The statement was made in the preceding chapter that the writers of the +Bible, especially of the historical books, drew faithfully from real life, +and sketched manners and traits as they found them. They neither smoothed +over nor concealed anything. They were absolutely frank. This fidelity to +nature made it inevitable that the writers should now and then depict the +ludicrous side of life and character, describe grotesque situations and +paint amusing scenes. These are not uproariously funny, they will not +provoke boisterous merriment, any more than will a page of Addison; but +they are none the less specimens of genuine humor. Indeed, Carlyle reminds +us that "true humor springs not more from the head than from the heart; it +issues not in laughter, but in smiles that lie far deeper." + +We may be sure that all life from the very beginning has had its humorous +no less than its serious side. If any record had been kept, we should no +doubt find that Adam and Eve had their jokes about the apples--it is +universally assumed that they _were_ apples--on that forbidden tree, and +that they were quite as good as any jokes that have been made about those +same apples in more recent years. The masons and bricklayers on the tower +of Babel no doubt poked their thumbs into each other's ribs and slapped +each other on the back to emphasize their rude jokes about the late "wet +spell," and wondered how long it would take to get to Heaven with their +building. And we imagine that even during the flood itself there were +sanguine souls who took the whole matter philosophically, declaring that +'it never rained long when the clouds looked _that_ way and the wind was +in _that_ direction.' The Israelites, we suspect, lightened their bondage +in Egypt by mimicking the pompous manners of their hated taskmasters and +ridiculing the fools who thought that bricks could be made without straw. +And the grimmest Egyptian mummy that now graces a museum or helps to +fertilize the wheat-fields of the West once wore a smile or grin upon his +leathern face as he related to a brother mummy how Pharoah made sport of +the Israelites by promising to "let them go," and then when they were all +on tip-toe with expectation, countermanding the order. Then they would +both shake their heads and chuckle with delight over the pleasant humor of +their monarch and declare that 'Pharoah was in high spirits to-day.' Thus +the world has rolled and chirruped and cackled on since the time when man +emerged from the animal. And Holmes suggests, in our motto, that the sense +of humor was in the animal before man. + + +I. + +Sometimes the humor of the Bible lies in the thing described,--the odd or +awkward or absurd thing said or done. + +"The Iliad," says Sidney Smith, "would never have come down to these +times, if Agamemnon had given Achilles a box on the ear. We should have +trembled for the Æneid, if some Trojan nobleman had kicked the pious Æneas +in the fourth book. Æneas, may have deserved it, but he never could have +founded the Roman Empire after so distressing an accident." And yet +accidents quite as distressing, if not of precisely the same nature, have +happened in the best families that ever lived upon this planet. The +writers of the Bible have not hesitated to give us a very frank account of +some of them. + +Imagine the vacant look of the terrified Aaron, as he gave his imbecile +explanation of the golden calf! Moses and Joshua are coming down from the +mountain. "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, +he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And Moses +answered, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is +it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them +that sing do I hear." Soon they draw near the camp and see "the calf and +the dancing." Then does the anger of Moses wax hot. In his rage he flings +down and shatters the "tables of stone." Like a whirlwind he descends upon +the camp, hurls the miserable calf into the fire, and demands an +explanation of his recreant brother. "What did this people unto thee that +thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" Aaron quails beneath the +wrath of Moses and stammers: "Thou knowest the people that they are set on +mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us: +for as for this Moses"--think of that, _this Moses_--"that brought us up +out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." You see +they are set on mischief; they were disrespectful even unto you--_this +Moses_. Something had to be done. "And I said unto them, Whosoever hath +any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into +the fire, and"--what do you suppose happened?--"_there came out this +calf_!" I was as much surprised as you are, but no one is responsible--_it +did itself_! + +In quaint fashion did Saul make honest confession when smitten with +remorse on account of his persecution of David: "Behold I have played the +fool!" The regret of Prince Hal also--"Thus do we play the fools with +time, while the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us." + +What an odd--almost laughable--spectacle is the bombastic Nebuchadnezzar, +one moment proudly striding along the battlements of his palace, "Is not +this great Babylon which I have builded?"--the next eating grass like the +beasts of the field! As Carlyle says: "A purple Nebuchadnezzar rejoices to +feel himself now veritably emperor of this great Babylon which he has +builded; and _is_ a nondescript, biped-quadruped, on the eve of a seven +years' course of grazing." + +There is a scene in the life of David in which that worthy is represented +as cutting fantastic capers before high heaven. At one time, in order to +keep out of Saul's way, David went down to Gath. The servants of King +Achish recognize him, and tell their royal master that this is the famous +David over whose exploits the daughters of Israel sang. "Is not this +David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in +dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten +thousands?" But David does not wish his identity known and with +characteristic shrewdness he feigns insanity. "He feigned himself mad, and +scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his +beard,"--a sorry looking hero! So thinks the king Achish. What, this the +man that slew the giant? this drivelling lunatic the victor that Israel's +daughters praised? His disgust knows no bounds. He is almost as grotesque +in his anger as is David in his appearance and conduct. He turns upon his +courtiers in offended dignity and cries, "Lo, ye see the man is mad; +wherefore have ye brought him to me? _Have I need of madmen_, (are not ye +my own servants sufficient?) that ye have brought this fellow to play the +madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" "Fool me no +fools," says King Achish. When King Achish asked, "Have I need of madmen?" +he evidently thought of his own servants and courtiers as did Christian +I., of Denmark, in modern times, of those who graced _his_ Court. He +sharply remarked, on a presentation to him of several court fools, that +"he was not in want of such things, and if he were, he had only to give +license to his courtiers, who, to his certain knowledge, were capable of +exhibiting themselves as the greatest fools in Europe!" + +In Nehemiah's account of building the walls of Jerusalem, he shows how +sorely the Jews took the clumsy jibes of their foes and gives us a +specimen of Samaritan joking in that early day. Sanballat mocked the Jews +and said, "What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will +they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the +stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burned?" Tobiah, the Amorite, +was yet more caustic: "Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he will +even break down their stone wall." This ridicule, although the jests do +not seem very formidable to us, was harder to bear than attacks with sword +and spear. It is so to-day. We can stand anything but laughter. One would +rather be made to appear infamous than ridiculous. The only answer the +builders could make was to pray for the destruction of their sarcastic +persecutors. They wished that heaven's bolts of lightning might answer +these bolts of wit. + + +II. + +Sometimes the humor lies in the description itself rather than in the +thing described. Dr. Barrow, in his famous essay, says of facetiousness, +"Sometimes it is wrapped up in a dress of humorous expression." + +An excellent example is furnished in the account of the mob at Ephesus: +"Some, therefore, cried one thing and some another; for the assembly was +confused; _and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together_." + +When Sidney Smith speaks of "distressing accidents," we are reminded that +an exceedingly "distressing accident" happened in the very first family of +which we have any record--the family that started in Eden. Aside from any +question as to the literal truth of the story, nothing can exceed the +simplicity and naturalness with which the writer has described the +culprits and their excuses. The first thing they did after their +transgression was to hide. The supreme and perpetual folly of guilt is to +imagine that it can be hid when the voice of the Lord God is heard in the +garden. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art +thou?" The culprit creeps forth from his hiding-place and stammers, "I +heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I +hid myself." "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the +tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?" Now the guilty +secret is out and Adam pleads in extenuation, "The woman that thou gavest +to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." It was no fault of +mine. That _woman_ was to blame--the woman, O Lord, remember, that _thou_ +gavest to be with me. Is not a little of the responsibility thine also, O +Lord? A touch of nature! "As it was in the beginning, is now and ever +shall be!" But Eve will not bear all the blame. She also is ready with her +excuse: "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." Another remove in the +location of the responsibility. If we can forget all that theology has put +into this story and look on it simply as a bit of literature, it is a +charming description of the way in which we mortals disclaim +accountability for our deeds. + + "And oftentimes excusing of a fault, + Doth make the fault worse by the excuse; + As patches set upon a little breach, + Discredit more in hiding of the fault, + Then did the fault before it was so patched." + +Job has expressed his contempt for Adam's conduct in Eden by invoking upon +himself even greater ills than he was then suffering, if he followed that +disgraceful example,--"If I covered my transgression as Adam, by hiding my +iniquity in my bosom." In magnificent scorn of Adam's hiding from the Lord +and laying his guilt upon another, Job exclaims, "Behold, my desire is +that the Almighty _would_ answer me!" and avows that "he would declare +unto him the number of his steps, and as a prince would go near unto +him,"--not skulk away from his presence among trees and bushes. The low +estimation in which Job holds Adam suggests that the old Hebrew who wrote +the story in Genesis, may have intended to hold up that primal man in a +humorous light. + +Whether the story of Balaam is literally correct in its details is one of +the questions this little volume is not intended to discuss. The writer of +that story tells his tale as naïvely as if conversations between men and +animals were of everyday occurrence. If we read it as we would any similar +piece, any other fable in which men and beasts speak to each other, we +should say that there were some elements of the ludicrous in the picture +of the prophet rebuked by his ass. "And the ass saw the angel of the Lord +standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned +aside out of the way and went into the field. And Balaam smote the ass to +turn her into the way." Just what any one would do to a "shying" animal, +upon impulse. "But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, +a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw +the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed +Balaam's foot against the wall; and he smote her again." Naturally enough! +"And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where +there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when +the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam; and +Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff." The rising +wrath of the prophet can no longer be controlled. The turning from the +way, the crushing of his foot against the wall, and finally the falling +down under him and refusing to proceed further,--these indignities on the +part of the ass at length exasperate the prophet beyond all measure, and +he right lustily lays on the cudgel. "What have I done unto thee that thou +hast smitten me these three times?" meekly inquires the belabored ass. +"Because thou hast mocked me, I would that there were a sword in my hand, +for now I would kill thee," roars Balaam. Thou hast mocked me; thou hast +played tricks upon thy master, the prophet of God. Thou hast done this on +purpose to vex me and put me to shame. Thou hast made a sorry spectacle of +me with thy pranks, and thou hast crushed my foot in the bargain. "Am I +not thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this +day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?" Should you not have known there +was something unusual? These are touches of nature in a story which might +illustrate the saying of Isaiah in which he attributes higher wisdom to +brutes than to men: "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's +crib, but Israel doth not know, my people will not consider." Was it this +saying that Shakespeare had in mind when he said, through the lips of +Mark Antony: + + "O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, + And men have lost their reason." + +At one time the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and other cities, +and put them into the cities of Samaria to take the places of the children +of Israel; but the new inhabitants did not fear the Lord, so the writer +tells us that the Lord sent lions among them and slew them. Some one spoke +to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which thou hast moved and +placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the +land." They are not acquainted with his habits and methods, and have +gotten themselves into great trouble. The God of the land has sent lions +among them. The king, hearing this, is in great dismay. It will never +do--the ravages of those lions must be stopped. He evidently thought, as +did Nick Bottom, "There is no more fearful wild-fowl than your lion +living, and we ought to look to it." "Then the king of Assyria commanded, +saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and +let him go there and dwell and teach them the manner of the God of the +land." The priest went and taught the uninitiated people not to provoke a +God who could let hungry lions loose upon them at any moment. The people +listened in terror. The result of the instruction was that "the people +_feared_ the Lord,"--with a side glance at the lions. They tried to +refrain from what would make him angry enough to order out the lions but +after all--and there must have been a twinkle in the eye of the scribe as +he recorded it--"_they served their own gods_." + +When Queen Vashti refused to come into the presence of King Ahasuerus and +his drunken lords, she did something that was wholly unprecedented. +Nothing of the kind had ever before been heard of in the whole history of +the empire. The revellers are shocked sober. Consternation reigns supreme. +When did a queen ever refuse to do the bidding of a king? a wife the +bidding of a husband? Are all our ancient notions of propriety to be +overturned? What will be the effect of Vashti's rebellion? The feelings of +the king are outraged because the queen declines to unveil her beauty +before his roistering courtiers. Enraged, he demands, "What shall be done +unto Queen Vashti because she hath not performed the commandment of the +King Ahasuerus?" It is a grave question. The lords themselves have a stake +in this matter. They fear the result of this strong-minded example. The +contagion of disobedience may spread. If it should, whose authority as +husband is safe? And Memucan answered, "Vashti, the queen, hath not done +wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people +that are in the province of the King Ahasuerus. For this deed of Queen +Vashti's shall come abroad to all women, to make their husbands +contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be reported that the King +Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, _but she +came not_. And this day shall all the princesses of Persia and Media which +have heard of the deed of the queen, say the like unto all the king's +princes. So shall there arise too much contempt and wrath." Such a thought +could not be entertained. As Dogberry would put it, "It is most tolerable +and not to be endured." Memucan, therefore, advises: "If it please the +king let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written +among the laws of the Persians and Medes, that it be not altered, that +Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal +estate unto another that is better than she." The penalty is severe, but +the case is one that demands heroic treatment. "And when the king's decree +which he shall make, shall be published throughout all his empire, _all +the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both great and small_." The +advice is accepted. "The saying pleased the king and the princes; and the +king did according to the word of Memucan; for he sent letters into all +the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing +thereof, to every people after their language, that _every man should bear +rule in his own house_." Thus perished the first recorded movement in the +direction of woman's rights! + + +III. + +The humor of the Biblical writers is often shown in the way they pierce +through outward actions and penetrate to the hidden motives of men. Before +their keen vision external disguises are vain. + +Let us turn to the account of sending the demons from the maniac into the +swine. Let us take the account that speaks of but one maniac. "Then they +that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country. And +they went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and +see him that was possessed of the devil and had the legion, sitting +clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid." It must have seemed +absurd to the evangelist that these Gadarenes should have been afraid of +the insane man after he had been restored. But the swineherds have not yet +told all their story. "And when they that saw it told them how it befell +to him that was possessed with the devils and _also concerning the +swine_--" "Aye, there's the rub!" "when they heard _that, they began to +pray him to depart out of their coasts_." A man has been restored, but a +herd of swine has been lost. This new prophet will ruin us all, if he +stays here. Let him begone. Though he saved men, they prayed him to depart +because he let the swine be drowned. Jesus himself said once that "every +man was of more value than many sparrows;" but these Gadarenes seemed to +think that no man was worth "two thousand swine." + +In the preceding section of this chapter, Paul's description of a mob is +noted. It will be interesting to understand the occasion of that mob. When +Paul preached at Ephesus, there was a marked decline in the demand for +images and silver shrines of Diana. The market became weak. One of the +principal manufacturers, Demetrius, called together all who were in the +same business and said: "Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our +wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that not alone in Ephesus, but almost +throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much +people, saying that there be no gods which are made with hands: so that +not only _this our craft is in danger to be set at naught_, but that the +temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence +should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth!" Demetrius, +the unctuous hypocrite, seems to throw the real consideration into the +background, and to be actuated mainly by concern for the honor of his +goddess. Ah, Demetrius, Demetrius, little do you, little do your fellow +craftsmen care for Diana and her worship, except as you get your gain +through her devotees. But make the people think you are full of zeal for +religion, and under the mantle of this falsehood cloak your motives, as +you rush through the streets crying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" +Rouse the populace, always ripe for mischief, and always more furious than +ever when they think that religion, something of which they do not +understand the first letter, and of which they are absolutely destitute, +is in danger. Rouse the people, make a pious demonstration, O Demetrius, +but know that he who recorded it all for future ages, wrote down your +inmost secret--"_By this craft we have our wealth!_" + +Another instance of hypocrisy similar to that of Demetrius, occurred at +Philippi. Paul and his comrades had spoiled the business of certain ones +who had in charge a damsel who uttered prophecies and told fortunes, by +casting out her "spirit of divination." "_And when her masters saw that +the hope of their gains was gone_, they caught Paul and Silas and drew +them into the market-place unto the rulers, and brought them to the +magistrate, saying, These men being Jews do exceeding trouble our city, +and teach customs which are not lawful for us to observe, being Romans." +It is patriotism that furnishes the cloak in this case. No allusion to +their loss of money--surely not; what matters that? "He who steals my +purse steals trash." But we must do our duty by our fellow-citizens. We +must not let these Jewish notions corrupt our civilization. We are loyal +Romans, let all the world know! Is there not something in this incident +to suggest the truthfulness of Dr. Johnson's remark, "Patriotism is the +last refuge of a scoundrel?" + +The result of the uproar was that the apostles were beaten and cast into +prison. Somehow it was soon discovered that they themselves were Roman +citizens, "and when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, +saying, Let these men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to +Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go; now, therefore, depart and +go in peace." It is now Paul's turn to be indignant, and he is not the man +to let the opportunity slip. Paul insisted, as he had a right to do, upon +his dignity as a Roman citizen. He tartly replied, "They have taken us +openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and do +they now thrust us out privily? Nay, verily; but _let them come themselves +and fetch us_." A touch of nature there! "And they came (meekly enough +now, those pompous magistrates) _and brought them out_." + +A man who never lacked courage was Paul. It had been told him that there +were certain ones among the Corinthians who had respect for his letters, +but something bordering on contempt for his person. "For his letters, they +say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his +speech contemptible." This is his answer: "Let such an one think this, +that such as we are in word by letters, when we are absent, such will we +be also in deed, when we are present." Let those scoffers look to +themselves! + +In lighter and almost playful vein, is his remark about the church at +Corinth, in his second letter: "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought +among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." And yet +there was one point in which the Corinthian church was inferior to others: +"For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, _except it be +that I myself was not burdensome unto you_?" Paul had allowed the other +churches with which he labored to support him, but to the Corinthian +church he had not accorded the same privilege. He had favored it with no +opportunity for benevolence. "_Forgive me_," he exclaims, "_this wrong_." + +Paul relates that on one occasion he had a dispute with Peter at Antioch, +in which he "withstood Peter to the face, because Peter was to blame." It +is to be doubted whether Peter ever quite forgot this dispute. The memory +of it may have lingered and been particularly active when he referred in +one of his own letters to "our beloved brother Paul who, according to the +wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles +speaking of these things; _in which are some things hard to be understood, +which they that are unstable and unlearned do wrest_, as they do also the +other Scriptures, (pray do not think that I am making brother Paul's +writings an exception) _to their own destruction_." + +There is another phase of this general subject that is reserved for +separate treatment in the following chapter. We pause here to say that the +people of Bible times have been removed from the people of to-day by a +chasm too wide and deep. We have been accustomed to look upon them as +belonging to another race--almost to another world. It is difficult to +believe that they were "men of like passions with ourselves." It seems +almost like sacrilege to intimate that they had their follies and +weaknesses; that they did things absurd and laughable, and sometimes went +farther and did things that were mean and wicked. There was a vast deal of +human nature in those sublime characters. Gail Hamilton sums them up as +follows: "Adam had dominion over the earth, but he attempted to shield +himself from the divine displeasure by laying the blame upon his wife, +which no gentleman would ever do. Noah was a 'just man and perfect in his +generation,' if you do not mind an occasional fit of drunkenness. Abraham +was a fine old sheik, a truly heroic figure, brave, generous, courteous, +hospitable, magnanimous; no wonder the haughty Jews loved to remember and +repeat that they were Abraham's children. But Abraham had his weaknesses +and fell before his temptations; and Isaac followed in his footsteps. Of +Jacob perhaps the least said the better, though he maintained his position +as head of his family with unrelenting vigor, calling no man master, +either son or king. There may have been other men whose life was 'without +fear and without reproach'; but their history is unknown to us; their +portrait is hardly more than a name." + + + + +IV. THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. + + +"When a child, with child-like apprehensions that dived not beneath the +surface of the matter, I read those parables--not guessing the involved +wisdom--I had more yearnings toward that simple architect that built his +house upon the sand, than I entertained for his more cautious neighbor; I +grudged at the harsh censure pronounced upon the quiet soul that kept his +talent; and prizing their simplicity beyond the more provident, and to my +apprehension, somewhat _unfeminine_ wariness of their competitors, I felt +a kindness that amounted almost to a _tendre_ for those thoughtless +virgins. I have never made an acquaintance since that lasted, or a +friendship that answered, with any that had not some tincture of the +absurd in their characters."--_Charles Lamb._ + + + + +THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. + + "Amid the sorrow, disappointment, agony, and anguish of the + world,--our dark thoughts and tempestuous passions, the gloomy + exaggerations of self will, the enfeebling illusions of + melancholy,--wit and humor, light and lightning, shed their soft + radiance and dart their electric flash."--_Whipple._ + + +"How curious it is," says the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, "that we +always consider solemnity, and the absence of all gay surprises and +encounters of wits, as essential to the idea of the future life of those +whom we thus deprive of half their faculties and then call _blessed_! +There are not a few who, even in this life, seem to be preparing +themselves for that smileless eternity by banishing all gayety from their +hearts and all joyousness from their countenances." Rather than believe in +the "smileless eternity" of such as these, we should accept the conjecture +of Soame Jennings, that "a portion of the happiness of seraphim and just +men made perfect would be derived from an exquisite perception of the +ludicrous." + +To that school of melancholy teachers who frown upon all pleasantry, and +buttress their gloomy position with the assertion that "Jesus wept but +never smiled," the title of this chapter will be particularly offensive. +It will strike them as downright blasphemy to intimate that Jesus +possessed and used the sense of humor so common to mankind. We assuredly +appreciate the delicacy of the position, and shall endeavor to avoid, in +our treatment of this subject, anything that might wound the most +sensitive soul. + +There are several considerations that will pave the way. We take it for +granted that Jesus was a complete human being, and that as such a being he +must have had all the human attributes and faculties,--the faculty of +mirthfulness among them. He was a man, and lacked nothing that pertains to +men. Then, too, had he been without the sense of humor, much in the lives +and characters of those with whom he had to deal, he never could have +understood and reached. The full success of his mission depended upon his +knowing all that there is in man, and upon being able to gain access to +him through every avenue of his nature. + +Nor were the circumstances of his life unfavorable to the development of +this particular attribute. Theology and Art have conspired to produce upon +the world the impression that Jesus was an exceptionally wretched and +suffering man. They have taken one or two expressions in Isaiah, such as, +"his countenance was marred," "he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with +grief," expressions which they misunderstood and misapplied, and with them +have laid the foundations of their house of woe. They have seized upon a +few of the sadder incidents of his career, and have exaggerated them into +undue prominence,--have given them undue proportions. Especially have they +made much of his agony in the garden and his death upon the cross. These +events have been magnified into such mountains that all the rest of his +life seems to lie hidden beneath their shadows. It appears never to have +entered the mind of either preacher or painter that the physical anguish +of his death must have been even less than that which many martyrs at the +stake or martyrs upon sickbeds have borne; and that before death came, he +had lived a life with many bright days and many happy experiences. His +existence upon earth was not a protracted sorrow, a monumental grief. Many +a rose had blossomed at his feet before the thorns were twisted into a +crown for his brow. + +What shall we say of the thirty peaceful years under his father's roof, +with his brothers and sisters? Did he not in boyhood have the amusements +of other children? Is there not a memento of his youthful sports in what +he says of the games of the children in the marketplace, when they were +playing at weddings and funerals? Did he not, when a young man, delight in +his home and in his companions? Can we imagine that he moved among those +who were nearest and dearest to him, with a face to which a smile was as +much a stranger as a tropic flower to the frozen zone? + +When, as a mature man, he entered upon his public ministry, although he +was exposed to frequent attacks from the representatives of the +established religion, yet he was never without friends; never without a +place of refuge from the heat of battle. There were many homes in which a +welcome always awaited him, and whose hospitality he gladly accepted. Is +it probable that he was accustomed to sit in these homes--to use +Shakespeare's phrase--"like his grandsire cut in alabaster?" + +More than once we are directly told that "he rejoiced in spirit;" more +than once he spoke of his "joy" to his disciples. There is much evidence +that Jesus was not a wretched but a happy man. Did this happiness never +express itself in words or countenance? + +There are other considerations that go far to refute the dismal assertion +that "Jesus wept but never smiled." Tired mothers brought their children +to him and he rebuked the supercilious disciples who interfered. Can we +think that on this occasion he had a woe-begone look? We read of him often +at feasts; would he have been invited if he had been accustomed to sit at +the table like the skeleton at an Egyptian banquet? Did he not by his +frequent attendance upon festive occasions incur the odium of being a +wine-bibber and a glutton? He was also a favorite with the common people. +They heard him gladly. But there must have been something attractive in +his presence and manner, as well as in his words, and the words themselves +must have appealed to the shrewd, homely, common sense of his hearers. If +he had been the sad spirit he has been pictured, would the people have +followed him and listened to him as they did? + +When we leave the outward circumstances and the presumption they furnish, +and examine the fragments of his speech that have been preserved for us, +many of them certainly contain the element of humor. We should undoubtedly +call it humor if it came from any other lips than those of Jesus; if we +found it in any other book than the New Testament. + +The purpose of this chapter will be grossly misapprehended, however, if +any one shall suppose that we are trying to degrade Jesus to the level of +a professional joker. Nothing is further from our intention. The very +thought is repulsive. One may have and use the sense of humor without +putting on the cap and bells. He may use it with the highest motives and +for the noblest ends. It was said of Hosea Ballou, that "it was no +uncommon thing for him when preaching to excite a smile; but usually it +was done by some ingenious argument that would electrify every one +present." His biographer adds: "It is not known that any person ever +listened to one of his sermons who was not so impressed with his +sincerity, dignity and earnestness, that the recollection of his +occasional humorous sayings was held subsidiary and helpful to his main +serious purpose. His mother-wit was sanctified. It served a divine mission +in diffusing cheerfulness and health." We must always remember that wit +and humor do not mean buffoonery. + +It is difficult to understand how any one can read many of the parables +and other sayings of Jesus, and still believe the doleful tale that he +"wept but never smiled." He saw the dancing lights as well as the deep +shadows, the more genial and even ludicrous aspects of life, as well as +its various phases of sorrow and sin, and all these furnished subjects for +his discourse as well as illustrations for his teaching. + +Let us now consider some of the ways in which the sense of humor in Jesus +manifested itself. + + +I. + +The sense of humor often tempered his rebukes. There was often sunshine on +the cloud. + +There were times, indeed, as we shall see, when he spoke with unmeasured +severity, when his words fell like fiery hail, beating and burning the +heads of offenders; but anon he spoke half smiling, half pitying, as if +disposed to laugh at the very inconsistencies he censured. In this respect +his spirit has been caught by Addison and Goldsmith, by Irving and +Dickens. Richter says that "no one has a right to laugh at men but he who +most heartily loves them." Taine says of Dickens, "Before reading him we +did not know there was so much pity in the heart." Jesus loved men, he +pitied them, even while his eye detected and his words exposed their +faults and foibles. + +He had looked with pleasure (remembering his own childhood), upon the +games of the boys and girls in the streets of Jerusalem; he thought of +their whimsical complaints, as they played at weddings and funerals in the +market-place. On one occasion, his severity mitigated by his sense of the +ludicrous, he exclaimed, "Whereunto shall I liken this generation? and to +what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the +market-places and calling to one another and saying, We have piped unto +you and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you and ye have not +lamented." Everything had gone wrong. The others would not play fair. They +would not dance when we wanted to play wedding; they would not be mourners +when we wanted to play funeral. We have done all we could to please them, +but they are "too mean for anything." To the mind of Jesus, the people of +that generation appeared to be making the same complaint. They were +childishly dissatisfied with every divine messenger,--none could please +them. "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking +wine,"--solemn, gloomy, austere; but they would have none of him. He +mourned unto them, but they would not lament. They would not "play at +funeral" with him. They turned away and said, "He hath a devil." Then came +the Son of Man, bright and cheerful, "eating and drinking," but they would +not dance to his piping. They pointed at him and said, "Behold a +gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" It +was impossible to please that generation. + +If we place this passage side by side with the following from Goldsmith, +we shall see at once that if there be humor in the latter, there must also +be humor in the former. The subject is the reception accorded the Chinese +philosopher who tried to please his friends by his demeanor upon the death +of an English sovereign: "I thought it at least my duty to appear +sorrowful; to put on a melancholy aspect, or to set my face by that of the +people. The first company I came amongst after the news became general was +a set of jolly companions who were drinking prosperity to the ensuing +reign. I entered the room with looks of despair, and even expected +applause for the superlative misery of my countenance. Instead of that, I +was universally condemned by the company and desired to take away my +penitential phiz to some other quarter. I now corrected my former mistake, +and with the most sprightly air imaginable entered a company where they +were talking over the ceremonies of the approaching funeral. Here I sat +for some time with an air of pert vivacity, when one of the chief mourners +immediately observing my good humor desired me, if I pleased, to go and +grin somewhere else; they wanted no disaffected scoundrels there. Fum, +thou son of Fo, what sort of people am I amongst?" _Whereunto shall I +liken this generation?_ + +There was a certain time when multitudes followed Jesus, not knowing what +they were about, but simply swept along by the enthusiasm of the moment. +He saw that they understood not, so he turned and gave them this gentle +caution: "Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first +and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest, +haply, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all +that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was +not able to finish." Whoever comes after me and does not count upon +bearing his cross, is in the predicament of this foolish tower-builder,--a +ludicrous spectacle as he sits beside the unfinished structure, his +materials exhausted, while all his neighbors, as they pass by, wag the +head and point the finger. Such a spectacle as that will each one of you +be who does not count the cost of discipleship. With such gentle strokes +of humor did Jesus stay the thoughtless multitudes who imagined that their +empty zeal was genuine loyalty. He set forth their conduct in terms that +would most effectually impress upon them its folly,--in terms that +appealed to their sense of the ridiculous. + +In a sarcastic paragraph of his _French Revolution_, Carlyle speaks of the +work of the National Convention thus: "In fact, what can be more +unprofitable than the sight of six hundred and forty-nine ingenious men +struggling with their whole force and industry, for a long course of +weeks, to do at bottom this; to stretch out the old Formula and Law +phraseology, so that it may cover the new, contradictory, entirely +uncoverable thing? Whereby the poor formula does but _crack_ and one's +honesty along with it. The thing that is palpably _hot_, burning, wilt +thou prove it by a syllogism to be a freezing mixture? This of stretching +out formulas till they crack is, especially in times of swift change, one +of the sorrowfullest tasks poor humanity has." Was it not this very +formula-stretching that Jesus satirized in more playful vein,--this +formula-stretching that existed in old times and that still exists,--when +he said: "No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, +then, both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the +new agreeth not with the old"? You can not patch up old terms with new +meanings. The new meaning agreeth not with the old term. "And no man +putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the +wine-skins and be spilled, and the wine-skins shall perish. But new wine +must be put into new wine-skins, and both are preserved." The man who +tries to put new senses into old words, new ideas into old formulas, is +like a man who cuts up a new garment to mend an old; like one who puts +wine not yet done fermenting into a skin whose capacity admits no further +strain. He spoils his new coat and he loses his new wine. + +With such illustrations as these, illustrations embodying a figure or +comparison or situation essentially amusing, was Jesus wont to temper his +rebukes. + + +II. + +The sense of humor in Jesus enabled him to detect pretension, imposture, +hypocrisy, and expose them to the derision of mankind. + +If we should find in Dickens or Thackeray such pictures as Jesus has given +of the Scribes and Pharisees, they would strike us at once as the very +quintessence of humor. "They go arrayed in long clothing, they love the +uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues." They are +always posturing to attract attention. "They love greetings in the +market-places, to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi." In their way, they are +as much given to "deportment" as Mr. Turveydrop, when he says, "I suppose +I must now go and show myself about town; it will be expected of me." When +they pray, they do it standing in the synagogues or at the corners of the +streets that all may see how pious they are; when they perform their deeds +of righteousness, a trumpet is sounded before them, to make solemn +proclamation; as who should say, "Will the public please take notice; I am +about to drop a mite into this poor widow's hand." When they fast they put +on "a sad countenance and disfigure their faces" with fictitious woe and +weeping, "that they may appear unto men to fast." "See how I lay the dust +with my tears," says Launce. Everything they did was done for effect; +nothing came from the heart. Their religion was the veriest sham. They had +well-nigh reached the measure of South's ideal hypocrite, "who never opens +his mouth in earnest, but when he eats or breathes." Well might Jesus say, +"The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; _all things, therefore, +whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do ye not +according to their works; for they say and do not_." Does not this remind +us of Pecksniff, "who was a most exemplary man, fuller of virtuous +precepts than a copy-book; but some people likened him to a direction-post +which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there." + + +III. + +Not only did the sense of humor in Jesus enable him to unmask pretentious +hypocrites, but also to expose the absurdities that the multitudes +commonly practiced in the name of religion. + +There are those, for example, who in prayer use "vain repetitions," +thinking that they shall be heard for their "much speaking." They +estimate the efficacy of prayer by its quantity and not by its quality. +They think that if they only keep at it long enough, if they only use +multitudes of words, they will surely attract attention on high. + +There are others who think that religion consists in the "washing of pots +and cups and such like things" and they "lay aside the commandment of +God." One of their representatives in modern literature is Dolly Winthrop, +who tells Silas Marner about the letters "I.H.S." pricked upon the +Christmas cakes: "I can't read 'em myself, and there's nobody, not Mr. +Macey himself, rightly knows what they mean; but they've a good meaning, +for they're the same as is on the pulpit-cloth at Church; an' if there's +any good, we've need of it in this world." + +It is curious how the superstition of externalism has affected many, even +noble minds. Dr. Johnson once said of John Campbell, a political and +philosophical writer, "Campbell is a good man, a pious man; I'm afraid he +has not been inside of a church for a good many years, but he never passes +a church without pulling off his hat. This shows he has good principles." + + +IV. + +Jesus perceived the blunders of the well-meaning, but ignorant and +ambitious,--such as the man who went to the wedding party without suitable +garments, and was unceremoniously shown to the door; such as the obtuse +people who, invited to a feast, always took the seats of honor and were as +often courteously escorted to seats further down the table. When the "more +honorable man" came, the host would say, "Give this man place," and the +other would "begin with shame to take the lowest seat." Jesus saw these +blunders, and we cannot believe that he was blind to their comical side. +He must have felt that the mistake was a ludicrous one, even when he +advised the stupid people who made it, "When thou art bidden, go and sit +down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say, +Friend, go up higher; and then thou shalt have worship in the presence of +them that sit at meat with thee." + + +V. + +The sense of humor in Jesus is still further shown by his selection of +characters for his parables and illustrations. How many of them are what +we should call "odd sticks" to-day! + +Could any one devoid of humor, or opposed to its use, have described such +odd or eccentric people as the fool who thought that sand was as good a +foundation for his house as rock; or the drowsy friend roused at midnight +to lend his neighbor bread and scolding furiously at the annoyance? Then +we have the shepherd's coward hireling who ran away from his flock when he +saw the wolf coming; the foolish rich man; the unscrupulous steward who +provided for himself by cheating his master; the three fellows who made +such puerile excuses for absenting themselves from the king's +banquet,--one was interested in a real estate transaction, another was +dealing in stock, while the third had just "married a wife." Perhaps the +characterization of all these excuses as puerile, may be too sweeping. +This last case may be an exception. Having just entered the holy estate of +matrimony, any plans this man might have formed before that event were of +course subject to revision. Let us not be too hard upon him. It may be +that he rests under too heavy a load of censure. He may even be deserving +of sympathy. He said--was there a suggestion of desperation in his +words?--"I have married a wife and therefore I _can not_ come." The king +ought very likely to have exempted this man from his wrath; for he seems +to say, "I should like to come, but--!" + +Then there was the servant who, in his lord's absence, got above his +business, assumed the master, became drunken in the company of roisterers, +and beat his fellow-servants; but was at last put to shame by the sudden +and unexpected arrival of his master. This servant was a veritable Jaques +who, in the old play, assumed to be his master, the Duke, and who was +likewise brought to grief by his master's return: "I must appear +important; big as a country pedagogue when he enters the school-room with +a-hem, and terrifies the apple-munching urchins with the creaking of his +shoes. I'll swell like a shirt bleaching in a high wind; and look as +burly as a Sunday beadle when he has kicked down the unhallowed stall of a +profane old apple-woman. Bring my chair of state!" + +There are other characters, such as the shrewd laborer who, digging in a +field, finds a hidden treasure and secreting it goes and buys the field; +the unjust judge who finally, completely tired out, gives way in no very +amiable mood to the widow's unceasing petitions for justice; the timid +soul, who, fearing to use his talent, hid it in a napkin and buried it in +the earth; the self-righteous Pharisee who recounts his good deeds before +the Lord of the Temple and complacently congratulates himself that he is +not as other men! "God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, +extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice +in the week; I give tithes of all that I get!" Mr. Pecksniff once +more!--so satisfied with himself, "so radiant with ingenuous honesty that +Mrs. Lupin almost wondered not to see a stained-glass glory, such as the +saint wore in the church, shining about his head!" + + +VI. + +In the introduction, reference was made to the words of Mr. Shorthouse +which suggested this investigation. This seems a fitting place to present +the only example in which Mr. Shorthouse has carried out his own +suggestion,--the Parable of the Prodigal Son. + +"But is it trite that there is no humor in the gospels? 'What strokes of +nature, if not of humor,' to use Mr. Addison's words again, may we find in +the story, let us say, of the Prodigal Son? What, in the light of the +modern conception of humor, will come out of this? + +Here, surely, there is no want of real life, of low life, even. Here is a +wild young scamp, as like Tom Jones as heart could wish. Here is +ingratitude, forgetfulness of parents, riotous living, taverns, harlots, +what not? Then beggary, and feeding swine, and living upon husks. Then +when evil living is found not to answer, penitence--like Tom Jones again. + +And 'when he was yet a great way off his father saw him,' along the stony +road beneath the vine-clad hills. Who can tell how often the father's eyes +had gazed longingly down the road since his son's figure, gay, reckless of +the benefits just bestowed, accompanied by servants, eager for the +pleasures of the world, had vanished from his sight? Now, at last, after +so long waiting and looking, he sees in the far distance, a very different +sight. He sees a solitary figure, worn and bent down, in rags, dragging on +its weary steps; how could the old man's gaze expect such a sight as this? +Nevertheless, his father knew him, 'and ran and fell on his neck.' He did +not wait for any accents of repentance, nor did he enforce any moral +precepts which might advantage posterity. 'He fell on his neck and kissed +him.' Foolish old father! + +Tom Jones is brought in. He goes to the bath. The familiar feeling of +luxury comes over him once more. He is clothed in fine linen, and has a +gold ring placed on his finger, the past seems an evil dream. Then the +fatted calf is killed. The banquet is spread and there is festivity, +music, and dancing-girls. + +But suddenly, in the midst of his delight, some trouble passes over the +old man's face; his eldest son is not in his place, and they bring him +word that he is without and refuses to come in. Some perception of a +neglected truth passes through the father's mind, and he rises and goes +out. 'Therefore came his father out and entreated him.' + +The eldest son has been out all day working in the vineyards; all his life +had been one long performance of duty, taken for granted, and therefore +unpraised and unrecognized. In how many households will silent witness be +borne that this is real life--the gentle and obedient service +overlooked--nay, more than this, the cross word or hasty temper where +there is no fear that it will be returned. + +'All these years have I served thee * * * and yet thou never gavest me a +kid that I might make merry with my friends.' I am a man like others, +gayety and feasting are pleasant to me, as to them. + +A look of perplexed, but growing insight comes into the father's face. +'Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' + +This is all very well, still he is conscious that there is something to be +said for the eldest son, too. But his lost son--his wayward, and therefore +loved son, is come again. + +'It is meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother +was dead and is alive again.' We can see the pitiful, pleading look in the +old man's eyes,--'thy brother was dead.' + +Yes, Addison must be right. Nature and humor cannot be far apart. The +source and spring of humor is human life. Its charm consists, not merely +in laughter or even in joy, but in the stirring of those sympathies and +associations which exist invariably in the race; for we inherit a +world-life and a religion, the earth-springs of whose realities lie, +perchance, too deep for laughter, but not, Heaven be praised, too deep for +tears." + +Surely the examples given suggest an eye for the humorous in him who saw +and described them. These illustrations were, indeed, used to convey moral +truths, but they show how wide was the acquaintance of Jesus with all +sorts of characters, and how he loved to use such as were out of the +ordinary; such as, to-day, we should at least call "peculiar." A +recognition of this fact will help us better to appreciate and more +thoroughly to enjoy those simple, yet wonderful parables, out of which the +heavy hand of a severely literal criticism would crush all "touches of +nature." + + + + +V. PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS. + + +"Proverbs, must not be passed over in our enumeration,--proverbs, the +philosophy of the common people; short, pithy, homely sayings that embody +the concentrated essence of the common people's wisdom. It has been +difficult to give a perfect definition of a proverb, so crowded is it with +the life of shrewdness and experience; yet so easy and negligent is it, +and saucy as it were. Its characteristic excellences are shortness, sense +and salt. It is the wit of one man, the wisdom of thousands."--_Macbeth._ + + + + +PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS. + + + "The proverbialists occupy themselves with life in all its aspects. + Sometimes they simply catch the expression of men, good or bad, or + photograph their actions or thoughts; more generally they pass a + verdict upon them and exhort or instruct men in regard to them. * * * + Some of the proverbs have a certain flavor of humor."--_Davidson._ + + +"The wise men of old," says Whipple, "have sent most of their morality +down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram: and the +proverbs of nations which embody the common sense of nations, have the +brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit. Almost every sensible remark +on folly is a witty remark. Wit is thus often but the natural language of +wisdom, viewing life with a piercing and passionless eye." The object of +the present study is to consider those proverbs and other epigrammatic +sayings which distinctly contain the element of wit in some form or other, +and which are so liberally scattered over the pages of the Bible. + + +I.--THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. + +In such an investigation, we naturally turn, first of all, to that great +collection of proverbs, with which the name of Solomon has become +identified. They do not, however, represent his genius alone, although we +shall frequently use his name as representative of the whole class of +philosophers. They are the productions of many wise men through many +generations. They are, indeed, the outcome of the life of a whole people, +put into definite shape by those who had insight sufficiently keen and +power of expression sufficiently terse to formulate the lessons of human +experience. "The wise men," says Canon Driver, "took for granted the main +postulates of Israel's creed, and applied themselves rather to the +observation of human nature as such, seeking to analyze character, +studying action in its consequences, and establishing morality upon the +basis of principles common to humanity at large. On account of their +prevailing disregard of national points of view, and their tendency to +characterize and estimate human nature under its most general aspects, +they have been termed, not inappropriately, the _Humanists_ of Israel. +Their teaching had a practical aim; not only do they formulate maxims of +conduct, but they appear also as moral advisers, and as interested in the +education of the young." + +The Book of Proverbs is a perfect mine of cunning and glittering +sentences, many of which are witty as well as wise, and none the less wise +because they are witty. There are swords that pierce the hidden motives of +men, and whips that lacerate the backs of their open follies and sins. + + +_1. The Fool._ + +There is a personage, or more exactly, an assemblage of certain qualities, +constantly held up to ridicule under the general title of _The Fool_. +Ruskin says that "folly and sin are to some extent synonymous." The Fool +in the Book of Proverbs is one who combines mental stupidity with moral +obtuseness. He has a hard time of it at the hands of the proverbialists. +"He that begetteth a fool doeth so to his sorrow; the father of a fool +hath no joy." + +Foolish persons have always been noted for parading their folly, and +sounding a trumpet to proclaim their lack of understanding. So Solomon +says: "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of +his soul." "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright; but the mouth +of fools poureth out foolishness." "When he that is a fool walketh in the +way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a +fool,"--his scanty supply of sense is not enough to last him to the end of +his journey. There is a modern proverb to the same effect: "He has not wit +enough to last him over night." Everything the fool undertakes comes to +grief. "He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the +feet and drinketh damage." "The labor of the fool wearieth every one, +because he knoweth not how to go to the city." "The simple believeth every +word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going." "Let a bear robbed +of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly." No discipline +can be too severe for the fool. "Judgments are prepared for scorners and +stripes for the back of fools." "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the +ass, and a rod for the fool's back." But Solomon is not sanguine that the +most rigorous course will produce extraordinary results. "A reproof +entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." "Wisdom +is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the +ends of the earth." "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to +get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?" One can almost see that +picture--the fool wandering about the city with money in his hand, +inquiring where a person in need of it might purchase a commodity of good +common sense. "Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat +with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." In many +other proverbs is the fool gibbeted. "As snow in summer, and as rain in +harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool." "The legs of the lame are not +equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools." "As he that bindeth a stone +in a sling, making a dangerous weapon, so is he that giveth honor to a +fool." "As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable +in the mouth of fools." "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than +for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under +a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." In one chapter Solomon describes a +group of foolish persons. "For three things the earth is disquieted and +for four which it can not bear; for a servant when he reigneth"--the +modern instance is the "beggar on horseback,"--"and a fool when he is +filled with meat; for an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid +that is heir to her mistress." These four characters "play such fantastic +tricks before high heaven," that whether the "angels weep" or not, the +earth groans and is "disquieted." And yet Solomon seems to have found a +more grotesque and incorrigible character than the fool: "Seest thou a man +wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him." The +contempt of the proverbialists for the class of persons here described was +quite as strong as that of Dr. Samuel Johnson. When some one hoped that +the good doctor might meet in heaven a certain person whose conduct had +aroused his ire, he retorted with some warmth, "Madam, I am not fond of +meeting fools anywhere." + + +_2. The Idler._ + +How these writers love to castigate laziness! They toss the sluggard on +all manner of sharp-pointed epigrams. "He that gathereth in summer is a +wise son; he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." "The +way of a slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,"--he walks as slowly and +painfully as if avoiding thorns on either hand. "As vinegar to the teeth +and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him." "The +slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting." "The sluggard +will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore he shall beg in harvest +and have nothing." "Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." "He that +tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain +persons"--those who teach him that there is any other way to success than +honest industry,--"is void of understanding." "The slothful man says, +There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets." "As the door +turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." "The slothful +hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his +mouth." Too lazy to eat! This is the very acme of indolence. + + +_3. The Babbler._ + +These wise men recommend, in pithy terms, the judicious control of the +tongue. They commend the value of silence. "Whoso keepeth his mouth and +his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." "The beginning of strife is as +when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention before it be +meddled with." "It is an honor to a man to cease from strife, but every +fool will be meddling." "Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is +accounted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of +understanding." This is the same idea which we find, in more elaborate +form, in Shakespeare: + + "There are a sort of men, whose visages + Do cream and mantle like a standing pond; + And do a wilful stillness entertain, + With purpose to be drest in an opinion + Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; + As who should say, 'I am Sir Oracle, + And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!' + Oh, my Antonio, I do know of these, + That therefore only _are reputed wise + For saying nothing_: Who, I am very sure, + If they should speak, would almost damn these ears, + Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools." + +In point of condensation, the wit of the proverb has the advantage. +Coleridge relates an incident which illustrates that "even a fool when he +holdeth his peace is accounted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is +esteemed a man of understanding." He once saw, at a dinner table, "a +dignified man with a face as wise as the moon's." The awful charm of his +manner was not broken until the muffins appeared, and then the imp of +gluttony forced from him the exclamation--"Them's the jockeys for me!" + +There is a passage concerning the tongue in the Book of James, full of +sayings quite as terse and striking as any in the Book of Proverbs. "If +any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to +bridle the whole body." "The tongue is a little member and boasteth great +things; behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." "Every kind of +beasts and birds and serpents is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; +but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly +poison. * * * Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. * * * +Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" + +This passage from James may be placed side by side with the familiar story +of Æsop. His master, Xanthus, sent him to market to procure the best +things it afforded. When the dinner hour arrived, Xanthus discovered that +nothing but tongues had been provided. "What," he exclaimed in a rage, +"did I not tell you to procure the best things the market afforded?" "And +have I not obeyed your orders? Is there anything better than a tongue? Is +it not the bond of civil society, the organ of truth and reason, the +instrument of our praise and adoration of the gods?" The next day Æsop was +directed to go to the market and purchase the worst things it afforded. He +did so and again purchased nothing but tongues. "What!" cried Xanthus, +"tongues again?" "Certainly; for the tongue is surely the worst thing in +the world; it is the instrument of all strife and contention, the inventor +of law-suits, and the source of all division and wars; it is the organ of +errors, of lies, of calumnies, and blasphemies." + +"Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men who +are made after the likeness of God; out of the same mouth cometh forth +cursing and blessing." + + +_4. The Scold._ + +To return to the proverbs. Solomon had some unhappy domestic experiences, +and such proverbs as these may have been the outcome: "As a jewel of gold +in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without discretion." "A continual +dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. Whosoever +hideth her, hideth the wind." "It is better to dwell in the wilderness +than with a contentious and angry woman." "Better is a dinner of herbs +where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." "It is better to +dwell in the corner of a house top than with a brawling woman in a large +house." + + +_5. The Power of Money._ + +The proverbialists had been close observers of human nature, and of the +ways of the world. "Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a +man are never satisfied." "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh +merry; but money answereth all things." "The rich ruleth over the poor, +and the borrower is servant to the lender." These wise men had seen much +to justify the sharp arrows they shot at those "who crook the pregnant +hinges of the knee where thrift may follow fawning." "The poor is hated +even of his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends." "Many will +entreat the favor of a prince, and every man is a friend to him that +giveth gifts." "A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before +great men." There is an incident in the second Book of Kings, that +exemplifies, with touches of humor, the truth of these proverbs. "And the +king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, (king of Israel,) for he had +sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and _brought no present to the king +of Assyria_, as he had done year by year." The king of Assyria is greatly +shocked at this sign of disrespect. His feelings are outraged and wounded +at receiving no present. It is suspicious, very suspicious! Let this +Hoshea be looked to. The man who fails to bring the usual present is fit +for "treasons, stratagems and spoils." There is no telling what evil he +may be plotting. Surely there is "conspiracy in him." "Therefore, the king +of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison." Solomon was right--"A +man's gift bringeth him before great men," but the absence of it bringeth +him into prison as a traitor! + + +_6. Miscellaneous._ + +Many other examples of wit and wisdom might be given. Let us add a few +miscellaneous ones. Solomon advises against making long calls. Busy men +would do well to hang this motto up in their offices: "Withdraw thy foot +from thy neighbor's house, lest he weary of thee and so hate thee." In +Solomon's wide and varied experiences, there had evidently been occasional +encounters with "bores." + +It may sometimes be well to present a stern front to the slanderer: "The +North wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a back-biting +tongue." + +Excellent advice this for those who indorse other people's notes: "Be not +one of them that strike hands, or one of them that are sureties for debts; +if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under +thee?" "He that hateth suretyship is sure." + +There were those in that day, as well as in our own, who tried to beat +down the price of an article by depreciating its quality: "It is naught, +it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he hath gone his way, then he +boasteth." Donald G. Mitchell, in his charming book, _My Farm at +Edgewood_, has a chapter on "Dickering" which is, in effect, an +elaboration of the proverb last quoted. "Sometime or other, if a man enter +upon farm life--and it holds in almost every kind of life--there will come +to him a necessity for bargaining. It is a part of the curse, I think, +entailed upon mankind at the expulsion from Eden, that they should sweat +at a bargain. * * * If I were to take the opinions of my excellent +friends, the purchasers, for truth, I should be painfully conscious of +having possessed the most mangy hogs, the most aged cows, the scrubbiest +veal, and the most diseased and stunted growth of chestnuts and oaks with +which a country-liver was ever afflicted. For a time, in the early period +of my novitiate, I was not a little disturbed by these damaging +statements; but have been relieved by learning on further experience that +the urgence of such lively falsehoods is only an ingenious mercenary +device for the sharpening of a bargain." + + +II.--EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS FROM OTHER SOURCES. + +The epigrammatic sayings of the Bible are not confined, as we have already +seen, to the Book of Proverbs. We find them elsewhere. Hosea says of +idolaters, "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." +Micah declared of the mercenary prophets, "He that putteth not into their +mouth, they even declare war against him." At the same time princes and +judges are so corrupt, that "the best of them is as a briar; the most +upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." + +Jeremiah charges against the people, "As a cage is full of birds, so are +their houses of deceit." "Can the Ethiopian," he asks, "change his skin, +or the leopard his spots?" and adds, "Then can ye also do right who are +accustomed to do evil." This is equivalent to the proverb of another +people: "Though you feed milk to a young snake, will it leave off its +habit of creeping under the hedge?" + +"Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?" asks Jeremiah; +"yet my people have forgotten me days without number." "Yea, the stork in +the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and +the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the +judgment of the Lord." "As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them +not; so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the +middle of his days, and at the end shall be a fool." + +Isaiah admonishes the people, "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this +broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and +pierce it; so is Pharoah, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him,"--a +saying which calls to mind the message Jesus sent to Herod, "Go, tell that +fox." To those who trusted in the prowess of the Egyptians, Isaiah +declares, "Now, the Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses are +flesh and not spirit." He assures the people that the time will come when +names shall be used with greater discrimination--"The vile person shall no +more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." + +Job says: "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild +ass's colt." And it is Job who has given us the common expression, "I am +escaped with the skin of my teeth." + +David says of the hypocrite:--"The words of his mouth were smoother than +butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they +were drawn swords." "Man that is in honor and understandeth not, is like +the beasts which perish." "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no +God." Of the wicked the psalmist exclaims: "Their poison is like the +poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; +which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so +wisely." Recalling an incident of Israel's journey through the wilderness, +he gives his opinion of the transaction Aaron tried to disclaim: "They +made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed +their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass!" "Fools, +because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are +afflicted." He says of those who gave him pain,--the "ploughers who +ploughed upon his back and made long their furrows,"--"They shall be as +the grass upon the house-tops which withereth before it groweth up; +wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his +bosom." + +Paul speaks of those "whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their +shame;" and also of certain ones who "speak lies in hypocrisy, having +their conscience seared with a red-hot iron." "Rulers," he says, "are not +a terror to good works, but to evil." "If a man thinketh himself to be +something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." + +The Book of James has already been quoted in this chapter; but there is +another passage of the proverbial or epigrammatic character that must not +be omitted: "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your +own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is +like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth +himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man +he was." The Veman proverb is very like this: "Whatever he devoid of +understanding may be reading, his virtue continues only so long as he is +reading; even as a frog is dignified only so long as it is seated on a +lotus leaf." + +One of the best examples of the kind of wit we are now discussing is found +in the account of King Asa's sickness and death. The writer of the Book of +Chronicles says: "Yet in his disease he sought not unto the Lord, but to +the Physicians;" and then adds with imperturbable gravity, "And Asa slept +with his fathers." Referring to this passage, Professor Matthews +says:--"It looks like a sarcasm on the medical practitioners of +Palestine." There is something similar to this in Ecclesiastes: "Wisdom is +good--with an inheritance," an ancient instance of "the old flag--and an +appropriation." + + +III.--THE SAYINGS OF JESUS. + +To this chapter belong many of the sayings of Jesus. He spoke in proverbs +as well as in parables. + +"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a +rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." + +"Many are called, but few are chosen." + +"The first shall be last, and the last first." + +"A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and among his +friends." + +"He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; he that exalteth himself shall +be abased." + +"Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." + +"Physician, heal thyself." + +"Ye are the light of the world; a city that is set on an hill can not be +hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a +candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." + +"Let the dead bury their dead." + +"No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the +kingdom of God." + +"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but +considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" There are several +proverbs in other literatures very like this. The Russian:--"A pig came up +to a horse and said, Your feet are crooked, and your hair is worth +nothing." The Bengal:--"The sieve said to the needle, You have a hole in +your tail." The Chinese:--"Let every one sweep the snow before his own +door, and not busy himself with the frost on his neighbor's tiles." + +"Ye can not serve God and Mammon." + +"A house divided against itself can not stand." + +"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but +inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know, them by their fruits. Do +men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" + +"For unto every one that hath to him shall be given and he shall have +abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which +he hath." + +"Wheresoever the carcass is, there are the vultures gathered together." + +"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls +before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn again and rend +you." Similar proverbs may be gathered from other sources. The Persian +says, "It is folly to give comfits to a cow;" the Veman, "Though you +anoint an ass all over with perfumes, it feels not your fondness, but +will turn again and kick you;" the Telugu asks, "What can a pig do with a +rose-bottle?" the Tamul says, "Like reading a portion of the Veda to a cow +about to gore you;" and again, "Though religious instruction be whispered +into the ear of an ass, nothing will come of it but the accustomed +braying." + +"They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Such +sayings of Jesus are true proverbs and instances of genuine wit. + +Archbishop Trench says, "Any one who by after investigation, has sought to +discover how much our rustic hearers carry away even from sermons to which +they have attentively listened, will find it is hardly ever the course or +tenor of the argument, supposing the discourse to have contained such; but +if anything is uttered, as it used so often to be by the best Puritan +preachers, tersely, pointedly and epigrammatically, this will have stayed +by them while all the rest has passed away. Great preachers to the people, +such as have ever found their way to the universal heart of their +fellows, have ever been great employers of proverbs." This principle helps +to explain why, in the case of Jesus, "the common people heard him +gladly." + + + + +VI. REPARTEE. + + +"He that can define, he that can answer a question so as to admit of no +further answer, is the best man. Jesus spent his life conversing with +humble people on life and duty, in giving wise answers, showing that he +saw at a larger angle of vision, and at least silencing those who were not +generous enough to accept his thoughts."--_Emerson._ + + + + +REPARTEE. + + "And no one was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from + that day forth ask him any more questions."--_Matthew._ + + +The present chapter brings us to the subject of Repartee. Of this form of +wit, Professor Matthews says, "Nothing is more admirable, nothing more +quickly enlists our sympathies, than this perfect command and quick, +instantaneous concentration of the faculties, when a man is taken at a +disadvantage and has to repel an insinuation or an insult at a moment's +warning. That felicity of instantaneous analysis which we call readiness, +has saved thousands of men from mortification or contempt. The dextrous +leap of thought by which the mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless +dilemma is worth more than all the logic and learning of the world." "The +impromptu reply," says Moliere, "is precisely the touchstone of wit." + +The pages of the Bible are sometimes enlivened by sharp repartees. The men +of old time, the men of the Hebrew nation, understood the power of the +quick and flashing answer, as well as more modern generations. Johnson and +Foote and Sheridan might have found it by no means easy to hold their own +in Judea. It is very likely that their powers would have been put to the +severest test. + + +I. + +Turning to the pages of the old Testament, we find many striking examples. + +Ben-hadad sends word to the king of Israel, threatening to destroy his +army. The king of Israel replies, "Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on +his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off." + +Amaziah desired war with Jehoash. He sends to him saying, "Come, let us +look one another in the face." Jehoash simply responds to the presumptuous +challenge, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in +Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And there passed by +a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle." + +Job retorts upon Zophar, after a wearisome recital of dreary commonplaces +intended for comfort, "No doubt but ye are _the_ people, and wisdom will +die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior +to you; yea, who knoweth not such things as these?" To the speech +introduced by these words, Eliphaz sharply replies, "Art thou the first +man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the +secret of God, and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou +that we know not? What understandest thou which is not in us? With us are +both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father." Upon +this latter sentiment Elihu expresses himself when he finds opportunity to +put in a word; "Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged +understand judgment." + +Indeed the Book of Job abounds in sharp speeches and replies as cutting as +the speeches they answer. The sufferer obstinately refuses to accept +their theory of his affliction or to adopt the remedies his friends +propose. "Ye are forgers of lies," he exclaims, "ye are physicians of no +value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace, and it should be your +wisdom." In response to this appeal, Eliphaz becoming piqued proceeds to +administer consolation with the lash: "Shall a wise man utter vain +knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with +unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?" "I have +heard many such things," cries the wretched Job, "miserable comforters are +ye all. If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words +against you, and shake mine head at you; but I would strengthen you with +my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief." + +There were some word-battles between Sanballat and Nehemiah while the +latter was trying to build the walls of Jerusalem, and the former was +doing his best to hinder the enterprise. "Come," says Sanballat, "let us +meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono,"--let us be +friendly, let us have a pleasant visit together,--"but he thought to do me +mischief." The crafty Sanballat did not take the builder of Jerusalem +napping. Nehemiah replies, "I am doing a great work so that I can not come +down; why should the work cease whilst I leave it to come down to you?" +Are your wishes of such mighty importance, O Sanballat that I should leave +the Lord's work? Must the building cease that I may gratify your whim? Go +to, Sanballat, go to; I can not come down. My work is great and noble; +thou art a trifler and hypocrite! In precisely this vein was Spurgeon's +reply to the pious bore who sent up word, "Tell him a servant of the Lord +wishes to see him." It was Saturday afternoon, and Spurgeon replied, "Tell +him I am busy with his Master!" + +Sanballat will have at him again: "It is reported among the heathen, and +Gashmu said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause +thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king, according to these +words. And thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, +saying, There is a king in Judah; and now shall it be reported to the king +according to these words. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel +together." To this tissue of falsehoods manufactured by the mendacious +Gashmu, Nehemiah flashes back with indignation, "There are no such things +as thou sayest, but thou feignest it out of thine own heart." Nehemiah +comes very near giving what Touchstone would call the "lie direct," and he +gives it without the qualifying "If." + +Robert Collyer has the following comment upon Gashmu, who was quoted by +Sanballat as authority for the charge that Nehemiah was going to set up +for a king: "This only, this one thing is left: A good man was doing a +good work with all his might, and bad men tried to hinder him. They tried +to hurt his person. Gashmu was above that. He was none of your common +rowdies. Sanballat and Tobiah might do that, but not Gashmu; yet Gashmu +will sit there and nurse his dislike, and be glad to hear the petty +stories that float like thistledown through the neighborhood against the +innocent man; words are twisted and turned to meanings Nehemiah never +thought of, and Gashmu hopes they are true; he wishes they were true; the +wish is father to the thought, and he believes them. * * * So Gashmu has +permitted his prejudices to grow into a lie. Gashmu is to live thousands +of years for one purely false assertion, and to be the representative man +of unprincipled gossips and narrow bigots as long as the world stands." + +Another illustration. When the woman, in time of famine, appealed to the +King of Israel as he passed by, "Help, my lord, O King," he turned upon +her with the somewhat grim rejoinder, "If the Lord do not help thee, +whence shall I help thee?" Her case was hopeless, if the Lord could do +nothing. + +Although the resemblance is not very strong, this incident suggests a +story of Michael Angelo. It calls to mind the way in which he took revenge +upon Biagio di Cesena. This courtier ventured to criticise his Last +Judgment. With a swift stroke he turned the Minos of the fresco into a +likeness of his critic. Biagio complained to the Pope. "Where has he +placed you?" inquired the Pontiff. "In Hell," said Biagio. "I am sorry," +replied the Pope; "If it had been in Purgatory, something might have been +done, but in Hell I have no jurisdiction." + + +II. + +Examples of prompt and keen retort are not confined to the Old Testament. +When we turn to the New Testament, we find additional illustrations. + +When Paul was making his defence before the Council, he said, "Men and +brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." +This declaration of innocence offended the High Priest Ananias, and he +commanded those who stood by, to smite the speaker on the mouth. This +raised the indignation of Paul, and with the swiftness of an arrow he +transfixed the Priest, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for +sittest thou to judge me after the law and commandest me to be smitten +contrary to the law?" This was understood as a bolt of invective by those +who heard it, for they asked in alarm, "Revilest thou God's High Priest?" +The answer of Paul was a still more subtle sarcasm: "_I wist not, +brethren, that he was the High Priest_." There was nothing in the conduct +of the man to betoken the dignity of his office. God's High Priest must +surely be fair and impartial. God's High Priest would never counsel +violence. The mistake, Paul would imply, was perfectly natural and +excusable. + +There is a story of John Randolph not unlike this. Indeed, the sarcasm is +the same in spirit and purpose. Paul admitted that "one must not revile +God's High Priest," but _he did not perceive that the High Priest was +present_. The coarse, loud, ill-tempered person who commanded to smite him +on the mouth could not be High Priest! The following was the occasion of +Randolph's sarcasm: During the winter of 1834 a member of the House, to +whom he was much attached, died. His place was taken by a young man, vain +and ambitious, who began his career by making a bitter attack on Mr. +Randolph. No reply was made by the latter. Several days passed, when a +question came up in which he was deeply interested, and he delivered a +very earnest and impressive speech. As he closed, he said, "I should not, +Mr. Speaker, have returned to press this matter with so much earnestness, +had not my views possessed the sanction and concurrence of my late +departed friend, _whose seat, I lament, is now unhappily vacant_." + +How skillfully, in the story of the young man who had been healed of his +blindness, does the subject of the cure parry the thrusts of the synagogue +authorities! "Give God the praise," they exhort, "we know that this man is +a sinner!" "Whether he be a sinner or no," says the young man, "I can not +tell; one thing I know that whereas I was blind, now I see." Thus +repulsed, they begin again. "What did he to thee? How opened he thine +eyes?" He replies, "I have told you already, and ye did not hear; +wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?" Stung to +the quick, they revile him, "Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' +disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow we +know not from whence he is!" Thoroughly aroused, the young man sends home +to them a final thrust: "Why herein is a marvelous thing that ye know not +from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes? Now we know that God +heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth his +will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man +opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not of God, he could +do nothing!" Abuse and excision alone remain to the rulers of the +synagogue. "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" +And they cast him out. Excommunication is the sole answer of priest-craft +and bigotry to reason. + + +III. + +To many readers it may seem impious to say that under the head of Repartee +we must classify many of those words of Jesus with which he cuts through +the sophistry of opponents and disentangles himself from the webs that are +woven about him. Let it be remembered, however, that we are dealing with +his utterances simply as literature; with their religious significance, we +are not now concerned. We are discussing the sayings of Jesus as we would +the sayings of Johnson or Goldsmith. + +One of the most striking instances is found in the controversy over +exorcism. When the scribes who came down from Jerusalem charged, "He hath +Beelzebub and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils," he quickly +reduced the accusation to an absurdity: "How can Satan cast out Satan? If +he rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an +end." He goes further--"If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your +children cast them out?" + +There was one occasion, however, when Jesus himself seems to have been +vanquished by a swift rejoinder. When the Syro-Phenician woman came to him +in behalf of her daughter, in order to test her faith he said,--"Let the +children first be filled, for it is not meet to take the children's bread +and to cast it unto the dogs." "Yes, Lord," she answered, "yet the dogs +under the table eat of the children's crumbs." These words came from a +bright intellect as well as from a trusting heart. Jesus appreciated the +keenness of the reply no less than the confidence it expressed. "_For this +saying_ go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter." "For once," +says Macbeth, "Jesus was refuted and that by his own figure; and he wished +to be refuted." + +How we enjoy such a dilemma as the one in which he placed the chief +priests and the scribes and the elders! They asked him, "By what authority +doest thou these things? And who gave thee authority to do these things?" +"I will also ask of you one question," says Jesus, "and answer me, and I +will tell you by what authority I do these things--the baptism of John, +was it from heaven, or of men? answer me." "And they reasoned with +themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then did +ye not believe him? But if we shall say of men,--they feared the people; +for all men counted John that he was a prophet, indeed. And they answered +and said unto Jesus, We can not tell." "And Jesus answered and said unto +them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." + +Another time "came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, +saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders? for +they wash not their hands when they eat bread?" How quick and effective +the reply: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your +tradition?" Nothing could be said in response. The question was absolutely +closed. The disciples violate your tradition? Very good; but what does +your tradition violate? Can we not see his opponents, falling back beaten, +knitting their brows, taking counsel together, planning some overwhelming +defeat for this impudent young heretic? What Thersites said of Ajax would +well apply to them: "He bites his lips with a politic regard, as who +should say, There were wit in this head an' 'twould out; and so there is, +but it lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show +without knocking." + +When the woman poured the spikenard on the head of Jesus, Judas, the +virtuous Judas, forsooth! made objection. "Why was not this ointment sold +for three hundred pence _and given to the poor_?" Why not, indeed,--for +Judas is custodian of the poor fund. "Judas," returns his Master,--and +there was pathos as well as rebuke in the words,--"Judas, the poor ye have +with you always, and whenever ye will, ye may do them good." This was the +first time Judas had ever manifested any solicitude for the poor. "But me, +ye have not always." Judas was silenced; but he began to brood revenge. +Soon he stole out and went to the chief priests. He had not secured the +price of the spikenard, but he would indemnify himself by selling his +Master! + +With what relish do we read the trenchant replies of Jesus to the Scribes +and Pharisees and Herodians who had leagued to "entangle him in his talk." +Easily as Samson broke the green withes, did he break the verbal fetters +they forged. "In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in +marriage!" "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God +the things that are God's." What can be more admirable viewed simply as +repartee,--as illustrations of the "dexterous leap of thought by which the +mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless dilemma?" If one were to read such +fragments of Gospel history for the first time, without the idea that he +must attach a solemn and awful meaning to every word, how would he delight +in these intellectual contests and hail the genius of the victor! + +After the besiegers, in the preceding incident, had exhausted their +fruitless ingenuity, Jesus turns upon them with the question, "What think +ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?" "The Son of David," they feebly mutter. +"How then doth David call him Lord? If David call him Lord, how is he his +son?" That ended the controversy. The combined forces of theology and +politics retired in confusion, evidently looking, as Dickens said of the +portraits of the Dedlock family, "as if they did not know what to make of +it." They had lost the battle. One can imagine the evangelist who +afterwards wrote the account, almost chuckling with inward satisfaction, +as he recalled the scene and recorded the result: "And no man was able to +answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day ask him any more +questions." + + + + +VII. Wit and Logic. + + +"Who would say that truth ought to stand disarmed against falsehood, or +that the enemies of the faith shall be at liberty to frighten the faithful +with hard words or jeer at them with lively sallies of wit, while the +Christians ought never to write except with a coldness of style enough to +set the reader asleep?"--_Augustine._ + + + + +WIT AND LOGIC. + + + "I was not gone far before I heard the sound of trumpets and alarms, + which seemed to proclaim the march of an Enemy; and as I afterwards + found was in reality what I apprehended it. There appeared at a great + distance a very shining light, and in the midst of it a person of most + beautiful aspect; her name was _Truth_. On her right hand, there + marched a male deity, who bore several quivers on his shoulders, and + grasped several arrows in his hand. His name was Wit."--_Addison._ + + +In her essay on Heine, George Eliot writes: "Every one who has had the +opportunity of making the comparison, will remember that the effect +produced on him by some witticisms is closely akin to the effect produced +on him by subtle reasoning which lays open a fallacy or absurdity; and +there are persons whose delight in such reasoning always manifests itself +in laughter. This affinity of wit with ratiocination is the more obvious +in proportion as the species of wit is higher and deals less with words +and with superficialities than with the essential qualities of things. +Some of Dr. Johnson's most admirable witticisms consist in the suggestion +of an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity of an action or +proposition; and it is only their ingenuity, condensation and +instantaneousness which lift them from reasoning into wit." The opinion of +George Eliot has been shared by others. Pitt declared that "all wit is +true reasoning," and Rogers says that "wit is truth." A French writer has +observed that "reason needs to be armed with the terrible epigram." And +even solemn John Milton writes of Plato's dialogues, "There is scarce one +of them, especially wherein some notable sophister lies sweating and +turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless dilemmas of Socrates, but he +that reads, were it Saturn himself, would be robbed of more than a smile." + +There are in literature abundant examples of the condensed logic of +wit,--the logic that exposes a fallacy, answers an objection and +demolishes an argument, without resorting to major and minor premise and +formal conclusion. One or two of these may pave the way to the main +purpose of this chapter. "Where was your Protestant Church before Luther?" +asked a Catholic of Wilkes. "Did you wash your face this morning?" said +Wilkes. "I did, sir." "Where was your face before you washed it?" The +logic of wit as employed by Dr. Johnson, is referred to by George Eliot. +On one occasion it was debated whether a clergyman who had five years +before been guilty of some grave sin should be reinstated. Johnson +inquired whether the man had repented. It was admitted that he had. +"Then," said Johnson, "if he has repented, is he not good enough to go to +heaven?" "Certainly." "Why, sir, then there is no objection. A man who is +good enough to go to heaven is good enough to be a clergyman." Johnson +denounced Lord Bolingbroke in the following immortal analogy: "Sir, he was +a scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against +religion and morality, a coward because he had not resolution enough to +fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw +the trigger after his death." + +A certain clergyman who had been addicted to bawling and roaring in the +pulpit said, "I once thought it was the thunder that killed, and know now +that it is the lightning that does the execution. I mean to thunder less +and lighten more." Sir Thomas Overbury punctures certain pretensions thus: +"The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors, +is like a potato--the only good belonging to him is underground." +Thompson, of the _Westminster Review_, defended the Radicals against the +attacks of the Whigs in this manner: "Noah was a Radical when, hearing the +world was to be drowned, he went about such a commonsense proceeding as +making for himself a ship to swim in. An antediluvian Whig would have laid +together half-a-dozen sticks for an ark and called it a 'virtual +representation.'" + +The principle that underlies these instances is obvious. The form may vary +but in every case there is an analogy that serves all the purposes of +formal logic,--"an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity of an +action or proposition." The writers of the Bible understood and employed +the same principle. + + +I. + +One of the best examples of its use is found in Nathan's parable. He goes +to David and tells him: "There were two men in our city; the one rich, the +other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor +man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought and +nourished up; and it grew up together with him and with his children; and +it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, +and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich +man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress +it for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's +lamb and dressed it for the man that was come unto him." Such an action is +so atrocious that it kindles David's wrath. He little suspects the purpose +of the wily prophet. "As the Lord liveth," he cries, "the man that hath +done this thing shall surely die! And he shall restore the lamb four-fold +because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." Beware, David, +beware! This Nestor-prophet, this Nathan of the subtle wit and keen-edged +tongue hath digged a pit for thee and thou hast fallen into it. Swiftly +the prophet smites the bewildered king with the conclusion, "_Thou art the +man!_" Could a volume of reasoning have so impressed David with the +enormity of his crime as this simple "analogy" of Nathan? + +A similar instance is found in the first book of Kings. Ahab the king of +Israel had allowed the Syrian general, Ben-hadad, to escape. One of the +prophets, determined to rebuke him, disguised himself and sat by the +wayside, waiting until the king should pass by. "And as the king passed +by, he cried unto the king and said: Thy servant went out into the midst +of the battle, and behold a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and +said, Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be +for his life or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. And as thy +servant was busy here and there he was gone." Ahab does not suspect the +snare of the prophet. What would my lord, the king, decide? Shall thy +servant pay the forfeit? "And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall +thy judgment be; thyself hath decided it." And he made haste, removed his +disguise, and said to the king: "Thus saith the Lord: _Because thou hast +let go out of thine hand a man whom I had appointed to utter destruction, +therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people_." +Ahab has judged himself. No wonder he was vexed. "And the king of Israel +went to the house heavy and displeased." Nothing so disconcerts one as the +recoil of his own logic. + +Let us place side by side with these illustrations one or two pieces of +the same kind of reasoning from Shakespeare. The Court Fool endeavors to +show Lear his own pitiful lack of wisdom in giving away his kingdom to his +daughters:-- + + "FOOL.--Nuncle, give me an egg, and I'll give thee two crowns. + + "LEAR.--What two crowns shall they be? + + "FOOL.--Why, after I have clove the egg i' the middle and eat up the + meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i' the + middle and gavest away both parts, thou borest thine ass on thy back + o'er the dirt; thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou + gavest thy golden one away." + +Upon another occasion the following dialogue occurs:-- + + "FOOL.--Canst thou tell how an oyster makes his shell? + + "LEAR.--No. + + "FOOL.--Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. + + "LEAR.--Why? + + "FOOL.--Why to put his head in; not to give it away to his daughters + and leave his horns without a case." + +Lear is so stung with the sense of his folly by these "analogies" of his +jester that he exclaims in rage and bitterness, "I shall forget my +nature!" It is the argument of Nathan, "Thou art the man." + +Upon the same principle, but in a different way, the Psalmist reasons with +those who "slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless," and +who say, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard +it." Thus he argues: "Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye +fools, when will ye be wise? _He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? +he that formed the eye, shall he not see?_" + +Under this head must we also place the judgment of Solomon, when the two +women came before him, each claiming the living child. "Then said the +king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth and thy son is dead; and +the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead and mine is the living one. +And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the +king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to +one and half to the other. Then spoke the woman whose the living child was +unto the king, for her heart yearned upon her son, and she said, O my +Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other +said, Let it be neither thine nor mine, but divide it. Then the king +answered and said, Give her (the first) the living child, and in no wise +slay it; she is the mother thereof." Solomon had to use a sharp argument, +but he settled the controversy. + + +II. + +The "suggestion of an analogy that immediately exposes the absurdity of an +action or proposition," was the favorite method of argument with Jesus. + +He spun no metaphysical cobwebs, he used no long chains of linked +propositions; it is no irreverence to say that his quick wit was his main +reliance. In a sentence or two, with a simple, homely figure, he reduced +to an absurdity the conduct he censured and the proposition he opposed. + +On one occasion he was asked, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" +"What man shall there be among you," he answered, "that shall have one +sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold +on it and bring it out? _How much more, then, is a man better than a +sheep?_ Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day." + +At another time the same subject came up. Because Jesus had healed on the +Sabbath day, the ruler of the synagogue was filled with indignation and +made a very grotesque spectacle of himself. He stormed, scolded, and +roared to the people, "There are six days in which men ought to work; in +them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Jesus +answered: "Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose +his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought +not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, +these eighteen years, _be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day_?" The +indignant ruler had to smother his wrath. "And when he (Jesus) had said +these things, all his adversaries were ashamed." The people enjoyed their +confusion, and evidently applauded the sharp-witted young prophet who had +silenced the fault-finding tongues of the rulers. "All the people rejoiced +for the glorious things that were done by him!" + +The Scribes and Pharisees were once murmuring and complaining that he +mingled with publicans and sinners, and even condescended to eat with +them. "And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a +physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but +sinners to repentance!" + +When the Pharisees and Sadducees desired that he would show them a sign +from heaven, he answered and said unto them, "When it is evening, ye say +that it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, It +will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and lowering. O, ye +hypocrites, _ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern +the signs of the times?_" He uses essentially the same argument for a +similar request: "When ye see a cloud rise out of the West, straightway ye +say, There cometh a shower, and so it is. And when ye see the South wind +blow, ye say, There will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, +_ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that +ye do not discern this time?_" Says Geike, "With biting irony, he turned +on them in a few brief, incisive sentences. * * * An evil and adulterous +generation seeks after a sign of the approach of the Kingdom of God, while +it is blind to the signs around that the Messiah must come, if the nation +is not to perish." + +In a similar manner he shows how ridiculous are the doubts of those who +fear that God will not answer prayer. "If a son ask bread of any of you +that is a father, will ye give him a stone?" How this must have arrested +the attention of his auditors; how they began to listen, curious to know +what was coming next. "Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a +serpent?" Now they exchange glances as much as to say, "No, no; surely we +would not do that!" But only for a moment. The expectant faces are again +turned upon the Great Teacher. "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer +him a scorpion?" "No, no!" and now they are eager for the conclusion: "_If +ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask +him?_" It is the climax of absurdity for you to think that you are better +than God, and will do more for your children than the Great Father will do +for his children! + +The disciples of Jesus came to tell him that the Pharisees are offended at +some of his sayings. His only reply is, "Let them alone; they be blind +leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall +into the ditch." + +When he charges the Pharisees with tithing mint, anise, and cummin, while +neglecting judgment, mercy and faith, he stamps their conduct with an +"analogy" that makes them ludicrous forever, "Ye blind guides _which +strain out a gnat and swallow a camel_." + +At dinner, he was rebuked by his host for permitting a penitent woman to +wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head. +"Simon," calmly returned the guest, "I have somewhat to say to thee." +"Master, Say on." Jesus then proceeds to impale him upon the following +question: "There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one +owed him five hundred pence, the other fifty. And when they had nothing to +pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will +love him most?" Simon understands whither the question tends, and slowly +and reluctantly comes his answer: "I--suppose--that--he--to--whom--he-- +forgave most." "Thou hast rightly judged." Yes, Simon, but thou hast +condemned thyself and justified the woman. + +The story of the vineyard and its application are similar to Nathan's +parable. "There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and +hedged it round about and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, +and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the +time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that +they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, +and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other +servants, more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last +of all, he sent unto them his Son; saying, They will reverence my Son. But +when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the +heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance. And they +caught him and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." + +This is the story. Jesus turns to the Pharisees: "When the Lord, +therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husbandmen?" +Priests and Pharisees are moved with indignation. This is horrible; it +almost exceeds belief. Those husbandmen were monsters of ingratitude and +wickedness! The Pharisees answer: "He will miserably destroy those wicked +men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall +render him the fruits in their seasons." + +Fatal answer for you, O Scribes and Pharisees! "Therefore I say unto you, +_the Kingdom of God shall be taken from_ YOU, and given to a nation +bringing forth the fruits thereof." There is a touch of humor in Matthew's +description of the manner in which the real object of this story dawned +upon the minds of the hearers. "And when the Pharisees had heard his +parable, _they perceived that he spake of them_." Are we not irresistibly +reminded of Falstaff, when the fairies in the forest turned out to be +flesh and blood, "I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass?" Do we not +feel about many of these condensed arguments of Jesus, as Milton did +about the "sophist sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and +merciless dilemmas of Socrates," that "he who reads, were it Saturn +himself, would be robbed of more than a smile?" + +Let us add by way of comparison, a passage from the Athenian Master. Here +is a fragment of dialogue upon the enslaving power of money. + +"Come, now, and let us reason with the unjust who is not intentionally in +error. 'Sweet sir,' we will say to him, 'what think you of things esteemed +noble and ignoble? Is not the noble that which subjects the beast to the +man, or rather to the god in man? and the ignoble that which subjects the +man to the beast?' He can hardly avoid saying Yes,--can he now?" + +"Not if he has any regard for my opinion." + +"But if he admit this, we may ask him another question,--How would a man +profit if he received gold and silver on condition that he was to enslave +the noblest part of him to the worst? Who can imagine that a man who sold +his son or daughter into slavery for money, especially if he sold them +into the hands of fierce and evil men, would be the gainer, however large +might be the sum which he received? And will any one say that he is not a +miserable caitiff who sells his own divine being to that which is most +atheistical and detestable, and has no pity?" + +This selection will enable us to see that the method commonly used by +Socrates was essentially the method that Jesus so frequently employed. + + +III. + +When we pass on to other portions of the New Testament, we find examples +of the same kind of reasoning in James and Paul. + +Most admirably does James show the futility of faith without works. "What +shall it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not +works? Can faith save him? If a brother and sister be naked and destitute +of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed +and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are +needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not +works, is dead, being alone." + +The class of people referred to by James are aptly described by Fielding +in the character of Peter Pounce. "Sir," said Adams, "my definition of +charity is a generous disposition to relieve the distressed." "There is +something in that definition," answered Peter, "which I like well enough; +it is, as you say, a disposition to do it, and does not so much consist in +the act as in the disposition to do it. But, alas! Mr. Adams, who are +meant by the distressed? Believe me, the distresses of mankind are mostly +imaginary, and it would be rather folly than goodness to relieve them." +"Sure, sir," replied Adams, "hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and +other distresses which attend the poor, can never be said to be imaginary +evils." "How can any man complain of hunger," said Peter, "in a country +where such excellent salads are to be gathered in almost every field? or +of thirst, where every river and stream produce such delicious potations? +And as for cold and nakedness, they are evils introduced by luxury and +custom. A man naturally wants clothes no more than a horse or any other +animal; and there are whole nations who go without them." Peter Pounce +would have said to the "brother or sister naked and destitute of daily +food," "_Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled._" + +The declaration of James that "faith without works is dead," is +illustrated in the sayings of others also: + + "Sweet words, empty hands."--_Telugu._ + + "Kindness, but no milk."--_Urdu._ + + "Though they are brothers, their pockets are not sisters."--_Turk._ + + "It is not by saying Honey, Honey, that sweetness comes into the + mouth."--_Ib._ + + "His words leap over forts, his feet do not cross the + threshold."--_Telugu._ + + "If you do not ask me for food and raiment, I will care for you as my + own child."--_Ib._ + +Equally admirable is that comparison of Paul in which he likens the Church +to the human body and shows the folly of jealousy and schism: "If the foot +shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it +therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the +hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" + +Very pleasantly, but very effectually, does he remind those who professed +to "speak with tongues" a sort of supernatural language, in the early +Christian assemblies, that it was "better to speak five words with the +understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." An +illustration serves his purpose. "Even things without life, giving sound, +whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in sound, how shall +it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain +sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? So likewise ye, except ye +utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known +what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air." + +Paul maintains the right of those who establish and teach churches, to be +supported by those churches. It was a right upon which he did not always +insist in his own case; but he fought for it as a great principle. "Mine +answer to them that do examine me is this: Have we not the power (the +right) to eat and drink?" The objector would admit this. Very well! "Who +goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and +eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of +the milk of the flock? * * * If we have sown unto you in spiritual things, +is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal things? * * * Do ye +not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of +the temple? They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? +Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should +live of the gospel." There is no gainsaying this argument. The "analogy" +is unanswerable. + +Already once or twice in this chapter, reference has been made to Socrates +and his method. Much of the following passage would apply equally well to +Jesus or James or Paul: "He generally begins with some question, +apparently so simple, so stupidly simple, and at such a distance from the +field of discussion, that his opponent often hesitates whether most to +admire the docility or wonder at the stupidity of the querist, and with a +complacent smile, half of pity, half of contempt, promptly replies. Other +questions succeed faster and faster, more and more difficult, and +gradually approaching, in one long spiral of interrogations, the central +position in which the unhappy sophist's argument stands. He now finds it +impossible to escape, and confounded, perplexed and irritated, discovers +that he is compelled to admit some palpable contradiction to his original +assertions, and this too by means of those simple and innocent premises +which he had so unsuspectingly granted. He feels himself within the coils +of a great logical boa-constrictor who binds his folds together tighter +and tighter till the poor sophist is absolutely strangled." + + + + +VIII. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + +"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth +in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city +she uttereth her words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love +simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate +knowledge? Turn you at my reproof!"--_Solomon._ + + + + +THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + "The oldest jibe in literature is the ridicule of false + religion."--_Emerson._ + + "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall hold them + in derision."--_Psalms._ + + +In the Bible, the elements of wit and humor are effectively employed in +dealing with the sins of men. Evil doing, in its various motives and +manifestations, is denounced, rendered repulsive, made ghastly and +terrible, and when everything else has been done, it is exhibited as +grotesque and ludicrous. Sin is the great absurdity of the universe. Were +it not so tragic, it would shake the very heavens with laughter. + +One of the old English poets has these lines:-- + + "He who does not tremble at the sword, + Who quails not with his head upon the block, + Turn but a jest against him, loses heart; + The shafts of wit slip thro' the stoutest mail. + There is no man alive that can live down + The inextinguishable laughter of mankind." + +With this fact the writers of the Bible were quite as well acquainted as +are the writers of modern times. They took advantage of it for the same +purpose. + +"Of this we may be sure," says Hazlitt, "that ridicule fastens on the +vulnerable points of a cause, and finds out the weak sides of an argument; +if those who resort to it sometimes rely too much on its success, those +who are chiefly annoyed by it almost always are so with reason, and can +not be too much upon their guard against deserving it." + +Into hearts impervious to all else, the writers of the Bible drove the +javelins of ridicule. + + +_The Sluggard._ + + +If anything could make a lazy man feel uncomfortable, it would be such +thorns as those Solomon has planted in his pillow:-- + + "I went by the field of the slothful, + And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; + And lo! it was all grown over with thorns, + The face thereof was covered with nettles, + And the stone wall thereof was broken down. + Then I beheld and considered well, + I saw and received instruction: + 'A little sleep, a little slumber, + A little folding of the hands to sleep.' + So shall thy poverty come as a robber, + And thy want as an armed man. + + * * * * * + + How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard, + When wilt thou rouse thee out of thy sleep?" + + +_The Unfaithful Friend._ + +If anything could make an unfaithful and deceitful friend, one who +professes much in times of prosperity and performs nothing in times of +need, ashamed of himself, it would be such a comparison as we find in the +book of Job:-- + + "My brethren are deceitful, like the brook + As the channel of brooks that pass away, + They become turbid from ice, + The snow hides itself in them. + At the time they are poured off, they fail; + When it is hot they are consumed from their place. + The caravans along their way turn aside; + They go up into the wastes and perish. + The caravans of Tema looked, + The companies of Sheba hoped for them; + They were ashamed that they had trusted, + They came thither and were confounded." + +The friends of Job were like streams in the early spring, when melting ice +and snow filled their channels, and the waters were not needed; but in +the heat of summer, when fainting caravans looked for refreshment, dry and +dusty. + + +_The Drunkard._ + +If anything could move a drunkard to forswear his cups and lead a sober +life, it would be such a sarcastic description of him as that which +follows:-- + + "Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? + Who hath complaining? Who hath wounds without cause? + Who hath redness of eyes? + They that tarry long at the wine, + They that go to try mixed wine. + + * * * * * + + Thine eyes shall behold strange things, + And thy heart shall utter froward things, + Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, + Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast." + +The poem closes with a terrible thrust. After the folly of the drunkard +has been described, his physical and mental condition pointed out--the red +eyes, the strange things seen in delirium, the incoherent babbling, the +unsteady gait, the surrounding perils,--the devotee of strong drink is +made to exclaim, "_When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again!_" Knowing +its effects, suffering in mind and body from his potations, such is the +incorrigible stupidity of the wine-bibber that he no sooner wakens from +his drunken slumber than he goes forth to seek again the source of his +wretchedness! + + +_The Idolater._ + +Nowhere is the use of ridicule by the writers of the Old Testament +displayed to better advantage than in their treatment of idolatry. Against +this sin they brought to bear the most potent weapons of their wit. None +of the resources of expression were left untried. Witness the withering +irony with which Elijah mocked the frantic priests of Baal: "And it came +to pass that at noon Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a +god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or +peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked." No finer bit of irony can +be found in any literature. Indeed, we may regard it as the most perfect +specimen extant of this species of wit. + +Jeremiah exclaims, "As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the +house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their +priests, and their prophets, _saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and +to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth_." + +The Psalmist thus speaks of the gods of the heathen: + + "They have mouths, but they speak not; + Eyes have they, but they see not; + Noses have they, but they smell not; + They have hands, but they handle not; + Feet have they, but they walk not; + Neither speak they thro' their throat." + +Having thus described the senselessness and impotence of the gods of the +heathen, he adds: + + "They that make them are like unto them, + So is everyone that trusteth in them." + +In a similar vein Jeremiah ridicules the idols: "For the customs of the +people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the +hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with +gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They +are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, +because they can not go. _Be not afraid of them; for they can not do evil, +neither also is it in them to do good._ * * * The stock is a doctrine of +vanities." + +Isaiah satirizes the idolaters in this fashion: "They shall be turned +back, they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images, they that +say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind +that ye may see. Who is blind but my servant? or deaf as my messenger that +I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect (in his own estimation), and +blind as is the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest +not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. * * * Who among you will give +ear to this and hearken and hear for time to come?" + +Ezekiel declares that, on account of their idolatries, the people have +become as worthless as a withered vine. Nothing useful can be made out of +it. It is only fit for the fire. "What is the vine tree more than any +tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood +be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any +vessel thereon? Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire +devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet +for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work; how much +less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, +and it is burned? Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree +among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so +will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem." + +There is an elaborate piece of sarcasm in the forty-fourth chapter of +Isaiah: "He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak +which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest; he +planteth an ash and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man +to burn; for he will take thereof and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it +and baketh bread." The tree which this idolater takes has grown up as any +other tree, and after it is cut down, it is devoted to the same ordinary +uses. Yet out of that very tree, "he maketh a god and worshippeth it; he +maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereto." + +The prophet repeats and amplifies, "He burneth part thereof in the fire; +with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast and is satisfied; +yea, he warmeth himself and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire; +and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth +down unto it and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, Deliver +me, for thou art my God." + +Then he concludes: "And none considereth in his heart, neither is there +knowledge nor understanding to say, _I have burned part of it in the fire; +yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh +and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I +fall down to the stock of a tree?_" The idolater does not see, does not +"consider" what an abject simpleton he is to make a god out of the same +material with which he bakes bread and roasts meat. It is as if the +prophet should say, "What sort of a god is that, O Israel, with which you +do your broiling and baking?" + +Robert South comments on this passage: "With one part he furnishes his +chimney, with the other his chapel. A strange thing that the fire must +consume this part and burn incense to that! As if there were more divinity +in one end of the stick than in the other; or as if it could be painted +and graven omnipotent, or the nails and hammer could give it an +apotheosis." + +The fatalistic excuse which the people make for their idolatries and other +sins, is thus disposed of by Jeremiah: "Behold ye trust in lying words +that can not profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear +falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye +know not; and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my +name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this +house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?" + + +_Refuges of Lies._ + +Isaiah charges the rulers of the people with forsaking the word of the +Lord, and substituting for his truth false maxims and iniquitous precepts. +They refuse to obey the divine commands, and lead their subjects also into +rebellion. They have adopted other rules of life than those delivered by +the prophets of Jehovah,--other national policy than that promulgated from +above. In their overweening pride and self-confidence, they look with +disdain upon the requirements of God. Isaiah represents them as saying, +"We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; +when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto +us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid +ourselves." But the prophet warns them that their fancied security shall +be broken up. "Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to +the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the +waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death +shall be disannuled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When +the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down +by it." He pauses a moment, after this strain of invective, and then +sarcastically describes the insufficiency of their refuges by another +figure, ludicrous enough, that of a man trying to stretch himself upon too +short a bed, and to cover himself with too narrow a blanket. "For the bed +is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering +narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." + + +_False Prophets._ + +Ezekiel tells us that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Son of +Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say unto +them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord. +Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their +own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like the +foxes in the desert. * * * They have seen vanity and lying divination, +saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them." These prophets +were endeavoring to soothe the people, to cover up their sins, to +dissipate their fears of retribution. "They have seduced my people, +saying, peace, when there is no peace." Then Ezekiel describes their work. +They are like foolish masons who build a wall with mortar that will not +hold the stones together,--"untempered mortar!" Can such work last? Can +such a structure stand? "Say unto them which daub it with untempered +mortar that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O +great hail-stones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo! when +the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing +wherewith ye have daubed it?" Did ye not boast of your mortar? Did ye not +promise the people that it would hold? Alas for you, O prophets! Alas for +your work! "The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the +prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see +visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord." + +Most contemptuously does Isaiah speak of the false prophets: "The Lord +will cut off from Israel, head and tail, branch and root, in one day. The +ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, +_he is the tail_." + + +_The King of Assyria._ + +Isaiah ridicules the high and mighty pretensions of the King of Assyria. +That monarch boasts of his achievements. He takes the credit of all to +himself. He wears the glory alone. "By the strength of my own hand, I have +done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds +of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the +inhabitants like a valiant man." Falstaff could not proclaim his own +prowess, in more bombastic style. "I am a rogue, if I were not at +half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by +miracle: I am eight times thrust through the doublet; four through the +hose; my buckler cut through and through; my sword hacked like a handsaw. +I never dealt better since I was a man." Now let the Assyrian resume his +parable: "And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and +as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and +there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." +Falstaff will match him again: "There is not a dangerous action can peep +out his head, but I am thrust upon it. Well, I can not last for ever; but +it was always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good +thing, to make it too common. * * * I would to God my name were not so +terrible to the enemy as it is!" + +The prophet, after allowing the Assyrian to sound his brazen trumpet, +turns upon him, and sarcastically reminds him that he is simply a tool, a +rod, a staff, in the hands of the Lord, and that he has of himself +accomplished nothing: "_Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth +therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?_ +as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if +the staff should lift itself up as if it were no wood!" + + +_The King of Babylon._ + +One of the most powerful passages of invective in any literature is that +in which Isaiah pictures the fall of the King of Babylon. + +He begins--"How hath the oppressor ceased!" Then he sets forth the joy of +the earth itself over the discomfiture of him who "smote the people in +wrath with a continual stroke." All creation is glad. "The whole earth is +at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir-trees +rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid +down, no feller is come up against us." This is the state of things on +earth. + +There is commotion in the lower world, there is mockery of the humiliated +monarch as he descends among the shades. "Hell from beneath is moved for +thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even +all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all +the kings of the nations." + +The shadowy, ghostly company gather about the fallen potentate and taunt +him: "Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy +pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is +spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from +heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground +which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will +ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will +be like the Most High! Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the +sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and +consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, +that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and +destroyed the cities thereof?" + +Then the prophet concludes: "All the kings of the nations, even all of +them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of +thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are +slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, +as a carcass trodden under feet!" + +It is truthfully remarked that "keen thrusts and tingling ironies will +rouse the slumbering, startle the stolid, shame the profligate, and set +the thoughtless to thinking. While it is true that ridicule is not the +test of truth, it is equally certain that it is only by ridicule that many +dull-witted and sin-steeped persons can be made to see and feel the truth. +It would be well for mankind in general, if all could be made to feel that +wickedness is as contemptible as it is hateful. There is a stupidity in +sin, a thick, rhinoceros skin of insensibility, which only the +feather-winged arrows of wit can pierce. Iniquity has a pachydermatous +hide, and can feel only when coals of fiery ridicule are laid upon its +back, and blown by the breath of laughter." + + + + +IX. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + +"If our Savior himself never laughed, it is difficult to believe that the +bystanders did not laugh, or at least smile, when he tore the mask from +the hypocritical pharisees who laid heavy burdens on men's shoulders which +they themselves would not move with their fingers, and devoured widows' +houses, even while for a pretence they made long prayers."--_Matthews._ + + + + +THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + "Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith."--_Paul._ + + +The writers of the Old Testament who used the glittering lances of wit +against the foes of truth and righteousness, had worthy successors in +evangelists and apostles, and in Jesus himself. These men were indignant +at hypocrisy and wrong-doing; they looked with scorn upon the swelling +pretensions of the religious leaders; they expostulated with affectionate +earnestness and severity with their own brethren who suffered themselves +to be led astray. Indignation is not necessarily wrong or unchristian. The +faculty of indignation is an essential part of human nature, and when +aroused against evil its operations are beneficent. It in no wise +diminishes the reverence we feel for Jesus, that he made a scourge of +cords and lashed the traders and money-changers from the temple! + +Ruskin says, "There is no black horse in the chariot of the soul. One of +the driver's worst faults is starving his horses; another is not breaking +them early enough; but they are all good. Take, for example, one usually +thought of as wholly evil--that of anger, leading to vengeance. I believe +it to be quite one of the crowning wickednesses of this age, that we have +starved and chilled our faculty of indignation, and neither desire nor +dare to punish crimes justly." + +This faculty of righteous wrath when it takes shape in irony, ridicule, +sarcasm, invective, is the mightiest foe of vanity, hypocrisy, pretension, +corruption, and vice. By its sword do they perish. The teachers and +writers of New Testament times, did not disdain to use in their work every +instrument of power known to the human mind. From their own stand-point, +at least, they had many false notions and customs to combat; they had the +ignorant, prejudiced, officious and fault-finding to deal with; they were +harrassed by narrow and persistent opponents; they had to do battle at +every step. They might have exclaimed with a modern writer, "Let us be +thankful that we have in wit a power before which the pride of wealth, and +the insolence of office are abased; which can transfix bigotry and tyranny +with arrows of lightning; which can strike its object over thousands of +miles of space, across thousands of years of time; and which through its +sway over an universal weakness of man, is an everlasting instrument to +make the bad tremble and the foolish wince." + + +_The Choice of the Jews._ + +There is an excellent piece of quiet sarcasm in John's account of the +trial of Jesus. He first gives us Pilate's conclusion in these words: "And +when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith: I find +no fault in him at all; but ye have a custom that I release unto you one +at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the +Jews?" Pilate is willing; he pronounces Jesus innocent; but the crowd +clamor and refuse. "Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but +Barabbas." John closes the account with an inoffensive looking sentence, +but one so full of bitter satire, that we can not help thinking of the +time when he wished to call down fire from heaven. Jesus is an innocent +man--so pronounced by the governor--but the Jews cry out for his blood. +They want Barabbas released. And who is Barabbas? Who is this popular +idol? Who is the man that the people prefer to Jesus the upright and +spotless? With a rapier-like thrust, John pierces the heart of that +iniquitous choice, "_Now Barabbas was a robber_." It is a stroke worthy +the "Son of thunder." + + +_The Weakness of Pilate._ + +But think not, O Pilate, that thou shalt escape. The same hand that cast +the first javelin, will also send one to pierce thy heart. In the next +chapter, John tells us how, up to a certain point, Pilate sought to +release Jesus. He was convinced of his innocence, and did not wish him put +to death. But there is a weak spot in Pilate's nature, and John points it +out with infallible precision. Pilate is not the man to stand for the +right at personal sacrifice. When his own interests are at stake, he will +permit injustice and cruel wrong to others. Why does he deliver Jesus to +the cross? John is determined that all the world shall know. "The Jews +cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend; +whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar." My lord Pilate +is not proof against this insinuation. He can not face the possibility of +losing his office. "_When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought +Jesus forth._ * * * Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be +crucified." John has stamped Pilate as a weak, vacillating and selfish +ruler; and his portrait, marked with these features, has been transmitted +to all ages. + + +_Paul and his Detractors._ + +Perhaps none of the great characters of New Testament times were so beset +by foes of all kinds as was Paul. He has himself assured us that he was +often in perils from his own countrymen, and in perils from false +brethren. He was denounced by priests and scribes, and opposed by upstarts +in the very churches he had founded. In replying to arguments and meeting +objections he sometimes showed his mastery of more than one form of +wit,--although the form he most frequently used was irony. + +By many his preaching was characterized as "foolishness." There was +nothing in it to commend it to the Jews who "required a sign," or to the +Greeks, "who sought after wisdom." "Very well," is his reply, "foolish it +may be, but after all it has accomplished more than either Jew or Greek +has been able to do for the world. 'Where is the wise? Where is the +scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the +wisdom of this world?' What has it achieved? Where are its monuments? 'For +after that the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the +foolishness of (just such) preaching (as mine) to save them that believe.' +This foolishness has lifted men from vile and sinful lives into +righteousness and honor. Have your own way about it, O Greeks and Jews; I +will be accounted a fool if you will, and am willing to let my words be +stigmatized as folly; but you will find that 'God hath chosen the foolish +things of the world to confound the wise; God hath chosen the weak things +of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and base things of +the world, and things that are despised hath God chosen; yea, and things +that are not, to bring to nought things that are.' I accept the low +estimate you put upon me and my work, but I triumph over you and your +work, however exalted. Results shall determine. This is glorious folly!" + +In writing to the Corinthians, he says of certain members of the church +who thought that in spiritual things they were superior to himself, "Now +some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to +you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, _not the speech of them +which are puffed up, but the power_." + +To those thus puffed up, he addresses himself in the following ironical +strain: "Now ye are full, now ye are rich; ye have reigned as kings +without us; and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with +you. For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last. * * * We are +fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye +are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised." + +He denounces certain teachers who were sowing the seeds of discord among +his churches, as "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming +themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is +transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his +ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end +shall be according to their works." Such teachers as these pronounced Paul +a fool and did everything to bring his work into contempt. "Very good," +says Paul to the Corinthians, "receive me then as a fool," and then +proceeding, with his favorite irony, "For ye suffer fools gladly, _seeing +ye yourselves are wise_!" + +How scathing is his rebuke to those who misrepresented his doctrine: "We +be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, Let us do evil +that good may come!--whose condemnation is just." This is his only answer +to evil tongues. + +It is conceded by the best authorities that Paul did not write the Epistle +to the Hebrews, but there is a passage in that letter not unlike him,--the +rebuke to those who ought to be strong, manly and intelligent Christians, +but who have not yet gotten out of their swaddling clothes: "For when for +the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again +which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such +as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk +is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is but a babe. But +_strong meat belongeth to those that are of full age_, even those who by +reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." + +Similar to this is Paul's treatment of the Corinthians when they were +divided in their allegiance, some claiming to belong to one teacher and +some to another. First Paul himself had been there and taught among them +in that broad and liberal spirit which always characterized him. He made +very little of forms and ceremonies, and very much of charity and +brotherhood. Then came Peter who was always more narrow than Paul, but +very intense. Paul was a broad river, Peter a mountain torrent. Peter +never completely freed himself from the bondage of the Jewish system, and +he insisted upon some of the things that Paul discarded. Soon a party was +formed. Some thought, no doubt, that Paul was too far away from the Jewish +creed, that he was not strict enough, that it was perhaps safer to take +Peter as a guide; so while some said, "I am of Paul," others said, "I am +of Cephas." Then came Apollos who is described as being "very eloquent." +When he stood up to speak, many said, "He beats both Paul and Peter; I am +of Apollos." So there were "envyings and strifes and divisions." Paul +ridicules the Corinthians for these childish quarrels, and says that he +must still speak to them as to "babes." "I have fed you with milk and not +with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, _neither yet now are +ye able_!" + + +_Examples from other Apostles._ + +The epistle of James that has furnished illustrations for some of the +preceding chapters, shall yield one for this, in its notice of a grave +abuse that existed in the early churches, and that has not entirely died +out of modern churches. + +"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of +glory, in respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly, a man +with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in +vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, +and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place (Take this high-priced and +fashionable pew, where you can listen to the gospel in luxurious ease, and +at the same time dazzle the eyes of those in neighboring pews with the +latest fashions), but say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under +my foot-stool (or go up in the gallery), are ye not then partial in +yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" + +Peter silences certain ones who complained of persecution, by saying, "If +ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye (that is nothing to +complain of), but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or +as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men's matters (if any one of +you suffers in such a character, he deserves the lash)." In either case, +there is nothing to justify your outcry. + +He also denounces certain ones who have forsaken the right way and gone +astray as "wells without water, clouds without rain that are carried of a +tempest." They "speak great swelling words of vanity, promising liberty +while they are themselves the slaves of corruption." And then he fastens +the reproach of their apostasy upon them with what Falstaff would call a +"most unsavory simile,"--"It is happened to them according to the true +proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was +washed to her wallowing in the mire." Such are those who turn back to +error from the paths of truth. + +In much the same strain does Jude write to the same class: "These are +spots in your feasts of charity; clouds without water, carried about of +the winds; trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked +up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; +wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever!" + +John wrote to the Laodiceans: "I know thy works that thou art neither cold +nor hot; so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I +will spew thee out of my mouth. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with +goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched +and miserable and poor and blind and naked!" + +The Laodiceans needed the familiar prayer of Burns: + + "O wad some power the giftie gie us, + To see oursel's as ithers see us; + It would frae mony a blunder free us, + And foolish notion!" + +They needed a look into the glass of Lao, which revealed the blemishes of +the soul, how fair soever the exterior. + + +_Christ's Use of Invective._ + +Even more severe than his apostles in his use of denunciation, was the +Great Master himself. In his controversies with the recognized religious +leaders of his day, he heaped coals of fire upon their claims and +teachings and practices. + +"Ye leave the commandment of God and hold fast to the tradition of men," +he says to the Scribes and Pharisees; and then adds, with terrible irony, +"Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your +tradition." Surely, when the commandments of God were placed side by side +with rabbinical glosses, they were in an extremely cruel position! + +No passage of invective, in any literature, is more crushing than this: +"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the +kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither +suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, +and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than +yourselves. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye +devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye +shall receive the greater damnation. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and +platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Blind +Pharisees! cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that +the outside of them may be clean also! Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers which, +indeed, appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones +and all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, +but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. * * * Woe unto you, +Scribes and Pharisees, for ye are as graves which appear not, and men walk +over them and are not aware of them." + +But not only the leaders, but the people also, fall under his lash. "The +men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall +condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold a +greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the South shall rise up in the +judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the +uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a +greater than Solomon is here! When the unclean spirit is gone out of a +man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he +saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is +come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh +with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in +and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. +Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation!" + +Upon another occasion, he upbraided the cities in which he had wrought and +preached. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee Bethsaida; for if the +mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in +you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes. +But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for +you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust +down to hell!" + +Does it seem strange that such language should have come from the lips of +Jesus? Should we not rather have expected it from the stern Baptist, his +forerunner, who denounced the "brood of vipers" that came to his baptism? +Is it inconsistent with that spirit of love which we believe to have been +the distinguishing characteristic of Christ? But love is not mere +invertebral amiability or moon-faced complacency. By as much as love is +strong and true, by so much does it seek, at any cost and by any means, to +remove the faults and follies of its object. If the lash be needed, the +lash it will take. "He who has never experienced the affectionate +bitterness of love," says F. W. Robertson, "who has never known how +_earnest_ irony and passionate sarcasm may be the very language of love in +its deepest, saddest moods is utterly incapable of even judging this +passion!" + + * * * * * + +Here the writer's task ends. The subject may be capable of much more +elaborate treatment; it would be claiming too much to suppose that these +chapters exhaust it. The writer trusts, however, that he may have +suggested a line of study to others, as it was first suggested to him. The +poetry, the dramatic portions, the oratory of the Scriptures, are +unsurpassed. Viewed simply as a literary work, the Bible is the most +interesting in the whole realm of letters. It becomes increasingly +interesting, as its great human elements are recognized. Over history, +biography, and most serious discourse, play the soft gleams of healthful +humor and the lightning-like bolts of sarcasm and wit. The book touches +human nature at all points. The more we view it as "literature," the less +as "dogma," the firmer will become its hold upon the heart of man. + +That these fragmentary studies may help some one to appreciate his Bible +better and enjoy it more, is the writer's wish. He may also express, in +closing, the hope that whoever has taken the trouble to read these pages +may have found them free from that which he disclaimed at the +outset--irreverence; as he believes them to be free from the other +extreme, superstition. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + +***** This file should be named 39546-8.txt or 39546-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/5/4/39546/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/39546-8.zip b/39546-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f56e526 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-8.zip diff --git a/39546-h.zip b/39546-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..68d1b04 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-h.zip diff --git a/39546-h/39546-h.htm b/39546-h/39546-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..958cb43 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-h/39546-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4234 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter—A Project Gutenberg eBook + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .large {font-size: 125%} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .poem {margin-left: 15%;} + .note {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + .title {text-align: center; font-size: 150%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .smcaplc {text-transform: lowercase; font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .spacer {padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Wit and Humor of the Bible + A Literary Study + +Author: Marion D. Shutter + +Release Date: April 27, 2012 [EBook #39546] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="Wit and Humor of the Bible" /></div> +<p> </p> +<p class="title">A LITERARY STUDY.</p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><small>BY</small><br /> +<span class="large"><span class="smcap">Rev. Marion D. Shutter, D. D.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">“Bibles laid open; millions of surprises.”—<i>Herbert.</i></p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/title_deco.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">BOSTON, MASS.,<br /> +Arena Publishing Company,<br /> +COPLEY SQUARE.<br /> +1893.</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1892,<br /> +BY<br /> +MARION D. SHUTTER.<br /> +<br /> +<i>All rights reserved.</i></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">Dedication.<br /> +<br /> +TO MY WIFE,<br /> +<span class="smcap">Mary Wilkinson Shutter</span>.</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>While “many have taken in hand to set forth in order” the pathos and +sublimity of the Bible, those literary elements comprised under the title +of this book have rarely been mentioned. Feeling that here was a field +untraversed, the author of this little volume began an investigation whose +results were originally embodied in an article published some years ago in +an Eastern review. That article is given in “Poole’s Index” as the only +one extant upon the subject. Since its publication, additional study has +brought to light other examples of the use of Wit and Humor by the writers +of the Bible. These later results were embodied in a course of lectures +delivered last winter before the students of Lombard University, +Galesburg, Ill. They are now given to the public in the present volume. It +would be presumptuous to claim that these few pages exhaust the subject. +Such a claim the author does not wish to make. Further research would no +doubt bring to light instances that have escaped him. It is hoped, +however, that these studies may be sufficiently complete to awaken +interest in a long-neglected side of our sacred literature.</p> + +<p>MARION D. SHUTTER.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 24, 1892.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">First Universalist Church.</span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<h2>INTRODUCTORY.</h2> + + +<p>“There is still one question before us. If humor be what we have claimed +for it, not a mere farce, but the depicting of the whole of human life, +then we should expect that the highest literature should be found to +contain it. We should expect to find it everywhere; that it should satisfy +all that desire which a reading in theology, or philosophy, or science, or +history, or a study in art, has created in man. Are there, then, any great +books, or still more any great forces in human life which seem devoid of +it? Is there any humor in the gospels? This is a dilemma that must be +faced; for if humor be life itself, how can human life in its highest +development dispense with it?”—<i>Shorthouse.</i></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">INTRODUCTORY.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“Even St. Paul could invent and enjoy a humorous pun; the proof of +which see Galatians V:12, in the original; so there is high authority +for jesting.”—<i>Kirke.</i></p></div> + + +<p>The title of this book will no doubt affect many persons unpleasantly at +first. “Flat blasphemy!” I can hear some one exclaim, “We have already had +the authority of the Bible undermined by critics, and here is a flippant +rogue who goes still farther, and assures us that it is nothing more than +a jest-book! This is the very climax and culmination of godless folly.”</p> + +<p>The author makes haste, therefore, to disclaim any intention of +irreverence. To cheapen or degrade sacred things, to “depreciate the moral +currency,” is at the farthest remove from his intention. It is easy enough +to take the language of Scripture and use it for coarse and vulgar +purposes, and such use deserves the severest censure. It is not to be +tolerated. Passages that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> have been light and guidance to multitudes, that +have brought strength to the tempted, certainty to the doubting and +consolation to the bereaved; that have been bread of life to those who +have hungered for righteousness, inspiration to the purposeless and help +to the needy,—have been turned into sources of merriment to freshen +exhausted wit, and season the insipid discourse of stupidity. Persons +whose brains are barren of pleasant conceits find no difficulty in so +perverting a Scriptural expression as to make the “groundlings” laugh. In +no such motives has this volume originated. The title has been chosen and +the work which it covers has been done in the spirit of one who loves the +Great Book, and who would secure for it an additional claim upon human +affection. The studies of the writer have led him into fresh fields and +pastures green, where he has gathered many things out of the ordinary that +have given the Bible a larger place in his own heart.</p> + +<p>No; the Bible is not a collection of jests; nor do we characterize it as a +jest-book when we say that it contains Wit and Humor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> These elements are +in the Bible, and with good reason. They are not introduced to amuse. They +are not intended to dissipate the weariness of an idle hour. They are not +designed to produce convulsions of laughter. They are subsidiary to the +main theme. They are incidental to the development of religious history +and religious thought. They help reveal in their true light the characters +who from time to time appear; they show the absurdity of the opposing +error and sharpen the arrows with which folly is transfixed. They enhance +in many ways the value and power of our Sacred Book.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<p>The Scripture documents may be viewed from several +standpoints;—historical, exegetical, theological and literary. One may, +for example, study the book of Job to find out the actual basis of fact +that underlies it, or for the purpose of ascertaining and systematizing +its doctrines, or he may read it as a great dramatic poem, and criticize +it by the rules that would apply to any other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> dramatic poem. He may go +through the Apocalypse, grammar and lexicon in hand, or he may study its +flashing imagery as he would that of any other magnificent work of genius. +He may read the Psalms as he would the odes of Horace. In these pages the +Scriptures are considered simply as Literature. The question of +inspiration or authority does not enter. Doctrinal inquiries are set +aside. “To understand,” says Matthew Arnold, “that the language of the +Bible is fluid, passing, literary, is the first step towards a right +understanding of the Bible.”</p> + +<p>The literary character of the Bible is admirably set forth in the +following paragraph from a recent critic:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“As a particular book, the Bible is an unequaled source of literary +inspiration. As a book of religious truth, it is supreme; but +religious truth, without any impairment of its value or obscurity of +its meaning, may be studied from the literary standpoint; in fact, in +the light of literary criticism, or tested by the usual canons of the +scholar, it will appear more sacred, more beautiful, more divine. +Never forgetting that it is our manual of religion, it is also the +vehicle of the most wonderful literature in human annals, and precedes +in importance all others.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> There is no book so composite in character +and yet so harmonious in plan, so multiplex in styles and yet so +educational in rhetoric and logic, so varied in contents and yet so +progressive in its philosophy and religion, as the Bible. Taken as a +whole, it is massive, comprehensive, a revelation of the Infinite. +Studied in its parts, it stimulates single faculties while it +ministers nourishment to the whole frame. Its histories are more +compact than those of Herodotus, Gibbon or Macaulay; its poetry, whose +key is a mystery, quiets Homer, Shakespeare and Tennyson; its +prophecies are unique climaxes of wisdom, both in drapery and +substance; its biographies excel those of Plutarch, Irving, Carlyle +and Boswell; its chronicles of wars are superior to those of Julius +Cæsar, Wellington, Napoleon, and Ulysses Grant; its epistles eclipse +those of Pliny, Madame Sevigne and Francis Bacon; its laws, in their +ethical and spiritual import, are quite beyond Justinian, Blackstone +and the English Parliament. Every phasis of literature, every norm of +wisdom, is in the Bible. It ministers to all tastes and arouses the +slumbering intellects of all who can comprehend the difference between +reality and fiction, and who incline to virtue rather than vice. +Ruskin confesses his indebtedness to the Bible, Homer and Sir Walter +Scott, for his mental discipline; Charles Reade pronounces the +characters in Scripture a literary marvel. Matthew Arnold daily read +the New Testament in Greek for its style; Milton could not have +written Paradise Lost without Genesis; Renan’s witchery of style is +traceable to the New Testament. Job has taught the poets the art of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +construction, and David has sung an undying melody into the ears of +the race. The Book of Ruth is the model idyl, and the Books of Esther +and Daniel abound in incomparable dramatic elements; Isaiah has plumed +the statesman for oratorical flights; Jeremiah has opened the +fountains of pathos and sentiment in pathetic souls; Ezekiel has +furnished a usable style of judicial denunciation for the criminal +lawyer. Of all books, whether rhetoric, logic, vocabulary, poetry, +philosophy, history, or whatever be the end, the Bible should be first +and most carefully studied, its literary spirit and form should be +closely traced and discerned, and its truth should be reverently +incorporated into the daily speech, thought and life.”</p></div> + +<p>But in this summary there is no mention made of the literary qualities +which it is here proposed to consider. They are as completely ignored as +if the very suggestion of their presence were profanation.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<p>The presumption is that in such a book, or rather collection of books as +the Bible, the elements of Wit and Humor would be found. We have here the +best historical, poetical, and moral works of a whole <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>people. These +documents cover in time more than a millennium and a half. It is more than +probable that during that time amusing incidents occurred, even in +connection with the religious trend of the history, some of which would be +reported; that grotesque and odd characters existed, some of whom would be +described, and their sayings and doings noted; that among the moral +teachers of the people, there were some at least, who would point their +precepts with wit and edge their rebukes with sarcasm. We should expect to +find all these things, as we should expect to find pathos or sublimity. +The humorous is just as legitimate in literature and quite as much an +element of influence. It glows in all the other great books which have +shaped the life and thought of mankind; and it is only fair to presume +that we shall find its light shining from those pages that have been most +potent of all.</p> + +<p>But is not “the volume of this book” a serious one? Is it not profoundly +in earnest? Are not its themes most solemn? Is not its purpose the highest +under heaven,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> the most important to the inhabitants of earth? The +conclusion, however, that the questioner has in mind is by no means +inevitable. It is a mistake to suppose that humor is incompatible with +seriousness, earnestness and solemnity. “As in one of my lectures,” says +Henry Reed, “I spoke of attempting to draw too precise a line around +sacred literature, making it too much a thing apart, so in regard to the +literature of wit and humor. I shall be very sorry, if such a title as +that which I have been obliged to use, led any one to think of it as of a +more distinctive existence than is the case, instead of regarding those +faculties as pervading the literature in various degrees, and thus forming +some of the elements of its life. I shall have occasion to trace these +elements in close connection with elements of tragedy, and to show how the +processes we generalize under the names of wit and humor are kindred with +the most intense passion and the deepest feeling.”</p> + +<p>In human nature, the sources of laughter and tears lie close together, and +the highest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> literature must express that nature in its entirety. “It is +an understood fact,” says Whipple, “that mirth is as innate in the mind as +any other original faculty. The absence of it in individuals or +communities is a defect.” “He who laughs,” says the mother of Goethe, “can +commit no deadly sin.” If it be true as Whipple says, that the absence of +mirth in individuals or communities is a defect, then is the absence of it +in literature likewise a defect. It is a defect because the literature +which omits it fails to set forth all that there is in man. It leaves an +important territory unexplored.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the literature which is designed to move and mold men +must be addressed to human nature in its completeness. Freighted with +destiny, charged with eternity as are the messages of the Bible, they are +yet intended to impress men; they are addressed to human faculties in +human speech. Whatever the capacities of language for touching the heart +and operating upon the will, they may all be employed, though the theme +soar to heaven or take hold on hell. The Bible is not an instrument<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of a +single string; it gives forth a thousand harmonies. It is attuned to every +note in human nature.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<p>Thus far we have simply dealt with the presumption. The considerations +advanced show us what we might expect to find. When we proceed from +presumption to actual investigation, our conjectures are verified. There +are certainly passages in the Bible which in any other writings we should +call Wit and Humor. Since this is the case, our discussion is legitimate, +however repugnant the very suggestion may be to the feelings with which we +are accustomed to regard the Bible.</p> + +<p>Let us take some examples. If we found in any other book such a saying as +this, “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a +stinking savor, so doth a little folly him that is in great reputation for +wisdom and honor,” should we not call it witty? Is it not witty as the +Russian proverb “A spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>Or consider such sentences as the following: “All the labor of a man is +for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not filled.” “As he that taketh +away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that +singeth songs to a heavy heart.” “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but +afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” “He that answereth a +matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” “A man of +great wrath shall suffer punishment; for if thou deliver him, yet must +thou do it again.” In other words, a man of violent temper is always +getting into difficulties; you have no sooner helped him out of one than +he madly plunges into another. Like the irascible person in the old +nursery rhyme, who jumped into a bramble bush and scratched out both his +eyes, he is no sooner extricated, than “with all his might and main, he +jumps into another bush and puts them out again.” “Can a man take fire in +his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can he go upon hot coals and his +feet not be burned?” “Wealth makes many friends,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> but the poor is +separated from his neighbor.” “He that passeth by and meddleth with strife +belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears.” If we +came upon such sentences in Johnson or Goldsmith, we should say in a +moment that they were instances of genuine wit. Let us not hesitate to +carry the same frankness of literary judgment to the Bible. When Isaiah +characterizes certain ones as “mighty to drink wine and men of strength to +mingle strong drink,” does he not use essentially the same reproach that +Prince Hal fastened upon Falstaff, “Wherein is he good but to taste sack +and drink it?” Who shall say that the earlier satire did not suggest the +later? Much has been written about Shakespeare’s indebtedness to the +Bible.</p> + +<p>Here is a passage of biting sarcasm from Job. We should surely call it +sarcasm if we found it in the pages of Robert South. Job is expressing his +scorn for those who affect to look down upon him in his adversities: “But +now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I +would have disdained to set with the dogs of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> my flock.” They are “the +children of fools, yea, children of base men; they were viler than the +earth.” (We have an equivalent expression in “meaner than dirt.”) They are +members of the long-eared fraternity. He does not say so in the bluntest +form of expression that can be used, and that any one less skillful would +have used. Job puts it much more effectively: “Among the bushes they +<i>brayed</i>; under the <i>nettles</i> they were gathered together.” “If that is +not wit,” says one, “there is no such thing as wit. And yet the +commentators do not see it, or will not see it. They are perfectly wooden +when they come to any such gleam of humor.”</p> + +<p>There is a bit of ridicule in Jeremiah that we should be quick to call +ridicule, if we came upon it elsewhere. He is describing the disasters +that fell upon the allies of the King of Egypt. “Why are the strong ones +swept away? They stood not because the Lord did thrust them down. He made +them to stumble, yea they fell one upon another; and they said, Arise, and +let us go again to our own people, and to the land of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> our nativity, from +the oppressing sword.” They are defeated in spite of all the promises of +the King of Egypt. He does not seem to avail them. His boasts are +ineffectual. His disgusted allies depart, flinging at him the withering +reproach, “<i>Pharoah, King of Egypt, is but a noise</i>; he hath let the +appointed time pass by.” That is to say, according to one paraphrase, +“Pharoah is of no account now, he has had his chance and lost it; he has +outlived his influence; his day is over; he is not a sovereign any longer; +he is only a noise.” Or as Matthew Henry puts it, “Pharoah can hector and +talk big; but that is all; all his promises vanish into smoke.” In the +same spirit, Queen Catherine says of the dead Wolsey,</p> + +<p class="poem">“His promise was as he then was, mighty;<br /> +But his performance, as he now is, nothing.”</p> + +<p>If we found a little sketch like the following in Thackeray, we should, +beyond doubt, pronounce it humorous: “All the brethren of the poor do hate +him; how much more do his friends go far from him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> He pursueth them with +words, yet are they wanting to him.” The words of a poor man can not +travel fast enough to overtake his rich friends and neighbors. Indeed, +Thackeray has drawn such a picture in his more elaborate description of +Harry Warrington in the sponging-house, making vain appeals for help to +his rich relatives and friends. “He pursued them with words, yet were they +wanting to him.” His aunt,—“a member of the great and always established +Church of the Pharisees, sent him her blessing,—and a tract!”</p> + +<p>If we found, in any modern literature, a sketch of the ruling deacon in a +church, like John’s description of Diotrephus, we should say it was tinged +with satire. “I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephus, <i>who loveth to have +the pre-eminence among them</i>, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I +will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious +words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the +brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, <i>and casteth them out of the +Church</i>.” Evidently there was a deacon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> in one of the apostolic churches, +who always had to be consulted. Everything must go as he dictated. He did +not even stand in awe of an accredited apostle. The minister must preach +according to his views of theology, or signify his willingness to accept a +call to a new field. Those members of the church who upheld a minister +whom Diotrephus did not like, found their connection with the body severed +without the formality of asking their consent. In the matter of having a +Diotrephus within their borders, some churches to-day find themselves in +the direct line of apostolic succession.</p> + +<p>In the book of Acts, there is an account of Paul’s reception at Athens. +“And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know +what this new doctrine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest +certain strange things to our ears; we would know, therefore, what these +things mean.” In the comment which follows this account, the writer +indulges in a touch of ridicule upon the Athenian gossips and curiosity +mongers. We should say it was a touch of ridicule if we found it in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +Addison. “For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, <i>spent +their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new +thing</i>.” Indeed there is a sketch in Addison of which this might easily +have been the ground-work. “There is no humor of my countrymen which I am +more inclined to wonder at than <i>their general thirst after news</i>. A +victory or defeat is equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a +cardinal’s mouth pleaseth them one post, and the opening of it another. +They are delighted to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are +afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the +advertisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public news; and +are as pleased to hear of a pye-bald horse that is strayed out of a field +near Islington, as of a whole troop that has been engaged in any foreign +adventure. In short, <i>they have a relish for anything that is news</i>, let +the matter of it be what it will. <i>They are men of a voracious appetite.</i>” +Is not the comment of the Scriptural writer upon the Athenians<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> in the +same vein with Addison’s comment upon the English?</p> + +<p>Isaiah rebukes those “who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness +for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for +bitter,”—thus confusing moral distinctions. This is the same sort of +sophistry that Addison exposes, in his gentle way, by proposing the +following form of agreement: “We whose names are hereunto subscribed, do +solemnly declare that we do in our consciences believe that two and two +make four; and that we shall adjudge any man whatever to be our enemy who +endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We are likewise ready to +maintain, with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is +less than seven in all times and at all places; and that ten will not be +more three years hence than it is at present. We do also firmly declare +that it is our resolution as long as we live to call Black black and White +white. <i>And we shall upon all occasions oppose such persons that upon any +day of the year shall call Black white or White<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> black, with the utmost of +our lives and fortunes.</i>” The rebuke, in both cases, is the same.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<p>What do these illustrations show? “That the Bible is, on the whole, a +humorous book? Far from it. That religion is a humorous subject? that we +are to throw all the wit we can into the treatment of it? No. But they +show that the sense of the ludicrous is put into man by his Maker; that it +has its uses; that we are not to be ashamed of it;” that we are not to be +horrified at the mention of it in connection with things we deem most +sacred. They show that the literature of the Bible contains the same +elements that in any other literature we call Wit and Humor. They show us, +also, that wit and humor do not of necessity produce hearty laughter or +boisterous mirth; not always do they manifest themselves in “gibes and +gambols and flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar.” Those, +therefore, who may expect something in these chapters that will shake +one’s sides with jollity, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> make him “laugh till his face be like a wet +cloak ill laid up,” will doubtless be disappointed. Wit and humor often +lie too deep for laughter, as pathos often lies too deep for tears.</p> + +<p>No attempt is here made at exact definition of the two words that are +prominent in the general title of this book. Perhaps after they have +passed through their final analysis we shall not be any wiser than before +we cast them into the alembic. Barrow says of Humor: “It is a thing so +versatile and multiform that it seems no less hard to settle a clear and +certain notion thereof, than to make a portrait of Proteus or to define +the figure of the fleeting air.” We usually include under the general term +all forms of pleasantry, grotesqueness, drollery, sarcasm, irony, +ridicule. Our common acceptation shall serve us in these studies.</p> + +<p>“There are many things,” says Prof. Matthews, “that definition helps us to +understand, but there are other things that we understand better than we +can any possible definition of them; among these are the cold, sparkling, +mercurial thing we call wit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and that genial, juicy, unconscious thing we +call humor.”</p> + +<p>With these preliminary observations, we proceed to examine the subject in +detail:</p> + +<p class="poem">“Are there not two points in the adventure of the diver?<br /> +One when a beggar he prepares to plunge;<br /> +The other when a prince he rises with his pearl?<br /> +Festus, I plunge.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> +<h2>II. CHARACTER SKETCHES.</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> +<tr><td>“——Now, by two-headed Janus,<br /> +Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time;<br /> +Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,<br /> +And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper;<br /> +And other of such vinegar aspect,<br /> +That they’ll not show their teeth by way of smile,<br /> +Tho’ Nestor swore the jest were laughable.”—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Merchant of Venice.</i></span></td></tr></table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">CHARACTER SKETCHES.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“With what prudence does the Son of Sirach caution us in the choice of +our friends. And with what strokes of Nature, (I could almost say of +Humour,) has he described the behavior of a treacherous and +self-interested friend!”—<i>Addison.</i></p></div> + + +<p>“The history of the ancient Hebrews,” says George Eliot, “gives the idea +of a people who went about their business and their pleasures as gravely +as a society of beavers; the smile and laugh are often mentioned +metaphorically; but the smile is one of complacency, the laugh of scorn.”</p> + +<p>Against the authority of so illustrious a name, the writer of these pages +confesses a somewhat different impression. It is difficult to believe that +such sentiments as the following could have arisen among a people whose +only smile was that of complacency, whose only laughter that of scorn:</p> + +<p>“He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.”</p> + +<p>“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”</p> + +<p>“Go thy way; eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry +heart.”</p> + +<p>“The voice of mirth,” “the voice of gladness” are phrases of frequent +occurrence. The ancient Hebrews believed that there was a “time to laugh” +as well as a “time to weep.” Grave and serious as they were, there must +have been in them, after all, something sunny and pleasant. They did not +find the heavens forever black and the earth forever cheerless.</p> + +<p>When we turn to the historical and biographical portions of Scripture, we +find here and there a bit of quaintness and drollery in pictures of life +and delineations of character that must have brought to the faces of those +who read them or heard them smiles other than those of complacency; that +must have been enjoyed with laughter other than that of scorn.</p> + +<p>Mr. Shorthouse says, “Nature and humor do not lie far apart; the source +and spring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> of humor is human life.” “The essence of humor,” Carlyle +remarks, “is sensibility; warm, tender fellow-feeling with all forms of +existence.” “The man of humor,” writes another distinguished critic, +“seeing at one glance the majestic and the mean, the serious and the +laughable; indeed, interpreting what is little or ridiculous by light +derived from its opposite idea, delineates character as he finds it in +life, without any impertinent intrusion of his own indignation or +approval.”</p> + +<p>The writers of the Bible sketched manners and traits as they found them. +Their pencils were faithful to nature. They reported what they saw. The +features which provoke the smile, as well as those which move us to +admire, condemn or weep, are pictured on their canvas. They had an eye for +the ludicrous side of life, as well as for its more sober aspects. So, +genial is much of their—often unconscious—humor, so far removed from +bitterness or scorn, that it should seem as if Addison and Irving might +have drawn some of their inspiration from these old Hebrews.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>In this chapter we shall give some illustrations from their sketches of +character.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">I.—Abimelech.</span></p> + +<p>In the time of the Judges the unprincipled Abimelech contrived to have +himself proclaimed king in Shechem. Knowing his unfitness for the throne, +and vexed at his successful machinations, Jotham, a man of ready wit, +ridicules the pretensions of the monarch and the folly of the people, in +an admirable fable. Addison says: “Fables were the first pieces of wit +that made their appearance in the world, and have been still highly +valued, not only in times of the greatest simplicity, but among the most +polite ages of mankind. Jotham’s fable of the Trees is the oldest that is +extant, and as beautiful as any that have been made since that time.”</p> + +<p>Perching himself upon the top of a hill, that his parable may not be +brought to an untimely end, he speaks to the multitude: “The Trees went +forth on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Olive +Tree, Reign thou over us. But the Olive Tree said unto them, Should I +leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and men, and go to be +promoted over the Trees? Then said the Trees unto the Fig Tree, Come thou +and reign over us. But the Fig Tree said unto them, Should I forsake my +sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the Trees? Then +said the Trees unto the Vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the Vine +said unto them, Should I leave my wine which cheereth God and Man, and go +to be promoted over the Trees?” Thus far the Trees have been unsuccessful. +They have found among their fellows of the forest no available candidate +whose character and record are good. They anticipated a difficulty of more +modern times. But they are becoming desperate. They are determined to have +a king. In this extremity what step do they take? “Then said all the Trees +unto the <i>Bramble</i>, Come thou and reign over us.” The Bramble cannot plead +business. It cannot say, as do the Olive and Fig and Vine, “I am of some +better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> use.” There is no reason, so far as any beneficent occupation is +concerned, why it should not be king. The offer is eagerly accepted, and +the pompous bush delivers itself of this high and mighty coronation +address: “If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your +trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the Bramble and +destroy the cedars of Lebanon!”</p> + +<p>This Bramble, Jotham explains, represents Abimelech, while the misguided +trees are the men of Shechem. Having made this application, Jotham became +convinced that his mission was ended, and abandoned Mount Gerezim for a +place of greater security. “And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer +and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother.” He did not wait to see +what impression he had made. He was willing to let his story, moral and +all, take care of itself; for in that day, as in every subsequent age, +there was no room for a satirist in the kingdom of an incompetent ruler.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">II.—Samson.</span></p> + +<p>Farther on in the book of Judges, we have the portrait of Samson. How +quaintly is the character drawn! A great lubberly, good-natured giant, but +now and then bursting out into fits of unreasoning and uncontrolled +anger,—not unlike Ajax in the play. He is constantly making himself +ridiculous in his love affairs.</p> + +<p>In <i>Love’s Labor Lost</i>, the following dialogue occurs:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Armado.</span>—Comfort me, boy. What great men have been in love?</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Moth.</span>—Hercules, Master.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Arm.</span>—Most sweet Hercules! More authority dear boy, name more; and +sweet my child, let them be men of good repute and carriage.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Moth.</span>—Samson, Master; he was a man of good carriage, for he raised +the town gates on his back like a porter; and he was in love.”</p></div> + +<p>He tries to joke in clumsy riddles: “Out of the eater came forth meat, out +of the strong came forth sweetness.” But his jokes were usually of a more +practical and even more disastrous kind. L’Estrange, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> his <i>History of +Humor</i>, says: “The first character in the records of antiquity that seems +to have had anything quaint or droll about it is that of Samson. Standing +out amid the confusion of legendary times, he gives us good specimens of +the fierce, wild kind of merriment relished in ancient days; and was very +fond of making very sanguinary sport for the Philistines. He was an +exaggeration of a not very uncommon type of man in which brute strength is +joined to loose morals and whimsical fancy. People were more inclined to +laugh at sufferings formerly than now, because they were not keenly +sensitive to pain, and also had less feeling and consideration for others. +That Samson found some malicious kind of pleasure and diversion in his +reprisals on his enemies and made his misfortunes minister to his +amusement, is evident from the strange character of his exploits. ‘He +caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, +and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails, and when he had set +the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and also the standing corn of +the Philistines, with the vineyards and olives.’ On another occasion, he +allowed himself to be bound with cords and thus apparently delivered +powerless into the hands of his enemies; he then broke his bonds ‘like +flax that was burnt with fire,’ and taking the jawbone of an ass which he +found, slew a thousand men with it. His account of this massacre shows +that he regarded it in a humorous light: ‘With the jawbone of an ass, +heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass, I have slain a thousand +men.’ We might also refer to his carrying away the gates of Gaza to the +top of a hill that is before Hebron, and to his duping Delilah about the +seven green withes. * * * Samson was evidently regarded as a droll fellow +in his day.”</p> + +<p>What a touch of human nature there is in the scene between Samson and his +wife, when she asks for the solution of that wretched riddle! “Thou dost +but hate me,” is her reproach, “and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a +riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it to me.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> What! +is there a domestic storm already brewing? There is something of a +thunderclap in the angry retort of the husband: “Behold, I have not told +it to my father and my mother,” (as if that would make any difference to +her!) “and shall I tell it to thee?” Comparisons of this sort are but +little noted for their conciliatory tendencies, and so we are fully +prepared for what follows: “<i>And she wept before him</i> the seven days while +the feast lasted.” Poor Samson is not proof against woman’s tears. He +could rend the lion as a kid, and carry off the gates of Gaza as easily as +a shepherd could bear a lamb upon his shoulders, but his superhuman +strength is of no avail against “women’s weapons, water-drops.” We are not +surprised to find that “it came to pass on the seventh day <i>he told her</i>.” +Thus did conjugal quarrels end in the time of the Judges.</p> + +<p>But if Samson was worsted in the encounter with his wife, he scored a +victory against the Philistines who had frightened her into telling them +the answer to the riddle. When they came with an air of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> insolent triumph +and said: “What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?” +he rather impolitely retorted,—traces of gall and wormwood at his recent +humiliation by his wife still rankling in his mind,—“If ye had not +ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.” But he paid the +debt of honor he owed them, the wager he had lost. “He went down to +Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil and gave +changes of raiment unto them which expounded the riddle.” Thersites would +have said of him as he did of Achilles, “His wit was his sinew.” Samson +had wonderful muscular power of repartee.</p> + +<p>On another occasion Samson amused himself by telling monstrous lies about +the secret of his strength: “If they bind me with seven green withes that +were never dried, then shall I be weak and be as another man;” “if they +bind me fast with new ropes;” “if thou weavest the seven locks of my head +with the web;” and so on. As Prince Hal said of the stories of his boon +companion, “These lies are like the father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> that begets them; gross as a +mountain, open, palpable.” Delilah, wearied with these practical jokes, +exclaims at last, “How canst thou say ‘I love thee,’ when thine heart is +not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me +wherein thy great strength lieth.” Then she began a course of teasing and +entreaty that finally proved successful. “It came to pass when she pressed +him daily with her words, <i>so that his soul was vexed unto death</i>, that he +told her all his heart.” Samson was great physically, but so weak mentally +and morally that he is continually reducing himself to an absurd +spectacle. He could not resist Delilah’s persistent importunities, nor had +he sufficient resolution to betake himself from the presence of +temptation. He had, no doubt, laughed loud and long at the victims of his +huge falsehoods, but he is finally harassed by a woman whose reproaches +and entreaties are like “a continual dropping on a rainy day,” into +telling the fatal truth. Upon the whole, as we look upon the portrait of +Samson, we find it impossible to respect him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> We can only smile at his +folly. The one flash of genuine nobility comes at the last. “Nothing in +his life became him like the leaving it.” After all, that heroic death +more than half redeems the vacillating career it closes.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">III.—Nabal.</span></p> + +<p>There is quite a different character in the first book of Samuel. His name +is Nabal. The word itself means “fool;” and the man’s wife, Abigail, +volunteered the opinion that it was a very accurate description of her +husband: “<i>As his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name and folly is with +him</i>.” He is self-satisfied, hard-headed, irritable, obstinate. We are +told that he was “churlish and evil in his doings.” He is blunt in speech, +rude, and even boorish in manners. He stands out of the story like an old, +gnarled tree. It would not be a matter of marvel if he suggested to +Fielding the character of Squire Western. They have many points in common. +The servants of Nabal are afraid of him: “He is such a son of Belial that +a man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> cannot speak to him!” He is fond of wine, and sometimes falls +asleep over his cups. When David asks a favor of him, he exclaims: “Who is +David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that +break away, every man from his own master!” As much as to say, “The +country is full of runaways and tramps, and how do I know but this David +is one of them?” Then he goes on—“Shall I take my bread and my water, and +my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I +know not whence they be?” Let this David look out for himself; it is all +that I can do to provide for my own family and servants! How exactly in +the Squire Western vein: “It’s well for un I could not get at un; I’d +spoiled his caterwauling; I’d a taught un to meddle with meat for his +master. He shan’t ever have a morsel of meat of mine, or a varden to buy +it with!” Just the man, after he has stormed his life away, to die of +apoplexy! And Nabal <i>did</i> die suddenly, a few days after he had been “very +drunken.”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">IV.—Jonah.</span></p> + +<p>There are some elements of genuine humor in the story of Jonah. Whatever +may be thought of the miraculous portions of the narrative, the character +of the shirking and whimpering prophet is faithfully drawn. He first tries +to escape the command of the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish, but finds that +he who runs away from duty runs into danger. Thoroughly alarmed by the +disastrous outcome of his attempt to get away from responsibility, he +finally goes to Nineveh, but is not reconciled to his task. He did not go +because he was anxious to serve the Ninevites, but because he wished to +avert further danger from himself. He is in just the mood to complain of +everything, to snatch at any straw of justification for his former +conduct. Contrary to his expectations, and even, it must be confessed, to +his secret wishes, the Ninevites were moved to repentance by his +half-hearted preaching, with its undertone of grumbling, and God forgave +them and turned away the threatened destruction of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> their city. But when +the forty days expire, and the city does not fall, Jonah is angry, and he +insists that he does well to be angry. He has been obliged to trudge +through the streets of the city day after day shouting his predictions of +doom, and now he is denied the poor satisfaction of seeing the bolts fall +from heaven in vengeance. He has even gone so far as to prepare for +himself a booth in a safe place, under whose shadow he might sit and enjoy +the spectacle,—“where he might see what would become of the city.” And +now there is nothing to come of it all! “It displeased Jonah exceedingly +and he was very angry.” Surely the Lord is not considerate of the feelings +of his prophet. Jonah’s pent-up displeasure breaks forth: “I pray thee, O +Lord, was not this my saying while I was yet in mine own country?” Did I +not tell you so? Did I not say then and there how this whole affair would +turn out? “Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish.” Why should I blister +under the sun of Nineveh, when I might take mine ease in Tarshish? “For I +knew that Thou art a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> gracious God, slow to anger and of great kindness +and repentest thee of the evil,”—too good-natured to do this thing! And +now that I have come, my prophecy has failed and my mission is a farce. +These wretches are spared and the prophet of God is a laughing-stock! “I +do well to be angry, even unto death!” He goes farther: “I beseech thee, +take away my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” +It is better to die than to be made ridiculous. Nothing could reconcile +Jonah, just then, to the thought of further existence. Like Mr. Mantilini, +he was determined to become a “body.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">V.—Absalom.</span></p> + +<p>We must not pass by that exquisite likeness of the demagogue in Second +Samuel. “Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate; and +it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for +judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? +and he said, Thy servant is one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said +unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no one deputed +of the king to hear thee.” Things are getting very loose in the +government; the country is going to the dogs. The present administration +has been so long in power, that it has grown careless of the interests of +the people. Absalom said, moreover, “O that I were made Judge in the land; +that any man which hath any suit or any cause might come unto me, and I +would do him justice!” We need a change. Put our party in power and see +whether the rights of the people will not be better regarded; see whether +there will not be reform in all departments of the government, and better +times in the nation. “And it was so that when any man came to him to do +him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him.” Really, +here we have the origin of the hand shaking candidate of to-day. Here are +the beginnings of that cajolery of the “poor laboring man,” “the honest +farmer,” “the oppressed people,” which the modern aspirant to office so +earnestly affects. “And in this manner<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> did Absalom to all Israel that +came unto the King for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of +Israel.” In one point the comparison between Absalom and his later +imitators fails. Absalom, it will be remembered, closed his career by +getting hung upon a tree. It is greatly to be regretted that many of our +modern demagogues do not complete the parallel.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">VI.—Shimei.</span></p> + +<p>If Absalom is a type of the demagogue, Shimei surely is a type of the +sycophant. While David was in power, Shimei was devoted. When David was +supplanted by the scheming Absalom and went forth heart-broken and weary +from the city where he had reigned, Shimei basely deserts him to become +the tool of Absalom, and heaps insults upon the head of the fallen +monarch. Here is a specimen of his conduct and language: “He cast stones +at David and at the servants of King David. * * * And thus said Shimei +when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> man and thou man of +Belial: the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of +Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the +kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy +mischief because thou art a bloody man.” This exhibition of meanness +rouses the just wrath of Abishai, who wishes to put an effectual stop to +the miserable proceeding: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord, the +King? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.” But David +forbids, and Shimei secure in the continued possession of his head +followed after David and his men and “cursed as he went, and threw stones +at him and cast dust.” But the scene changes. Absalom lies dead under a +heap of stones in the forest. David is returning to Jerusalem as king. A +boat has carried him across the Jordan. Who is this that meets him as he +lands and fawns upon him? The wretch who stoned and cursed him the other +day. It is Shimei who forsook him and pelted him when he was unfortunate, +but who returns to offer, “in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> bondman’s key,” his humble services when +David is restored to power. “Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me, +neither do thou remember that which thy servant did, the day that my lord +the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart.” Do +not grieve over it, do not take it too sorely. I admit that it was rather +hasty and ill-advised. “For thy servant doth know that I have sinned.” To +be sure I threw some stones, and kicked up a little dust, and swore a few +oaths,—very inconsiderate it seems now; but I am willing to forget the +whole affair. And see what splendid atonement I offer! “<i>Behold, I am come +first this day of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my Lord, the +King.</i>” Think of that! Ah, it is “my lord, the king” to-day; no longer a +“man of Belial.” My lord the king can grant favors. Any little trifle of +an office for which he may want an incumbent would be considered. +Remember, “<i>I am come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to go +down to meet my lord the king</i>.”</p> + +<p>Sterne says: “The wheel turns round<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> once more; Absalom is cast down, and +David returns in peace. Shimei suits his behavior to the occasion, and is +the first man also who hastens to greet him; and had the wheel turned +round a hundred times, Shimei, I dare say, in every period of its rotation +would have been uppermost.” Then he adds: “O Shimei, would to heaven when +thou wast slain, that all thy family had been slain with thee and not one +of thy resemblance left. But ye have multiplied exceedingly and +replenished the earth; and if I prophesy rightly, ye will in the end +subdue it. Go where you will, in every quarter, in every profession, you +see a Shimei following the wheels of the fortunate through thick mire and +clay.”</p> + +<p>It is not claimed that the writers of the Bible drew these portraits for +the purpose of making ludicrous those whom they painted, but the features +were in the originals, and they who wrote were simply faithful to nature. +They portrayed what they saw. They did not blind themselves to facts; and +now worthless usurper, weak-willed giant, churlish country squire of +Palestine, grumbling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> prophet, scheming demagogue and oily sycophant live +forever on their canvas. “Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature <i>hath</i> framed +strange fellows in her time;” and some of those “strange fellows” lived in +Judea thousands of years ago.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> +<h2>III. “TOUCHES OF NATURE.”</h2> + + +<p>“The ludicrous has its place in the Universe; it is not a human invention, +but one of the Divine ideas, illustrated in the practical jokes of kittens +and monkeys, long before Aristophanes or Shakespeare.”—<span class="smcap">Holmes.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">“TOUCHES OF NATURE.”</p> + + +<div class="note"><p>“To explain the nature of laughter and tears is to account for the +condition of human life; for it is in a manner compounded of these +two. It is tragedy or comedy, sad or merry, as it happens.”—<span class="smcap">Hazlitt.</span></p></div> + + +<p>“One touch of nature,” says Shakespeare, “makes the whole world kin;” but +the great dramatist did not define exactly what he meant by “touch of +nature,” and the critics of many generations have been at war over the +question. Perhaps he could not have told us, even if he had tried,—any +more than the critics can tell us. When Democritus was asked his +definition of a man, his only reply was, “A man is that which we all see +and know.” Further than this the philosopher could not proceed. But while +Shakespeare has not given us a definition, he has given us an +illustration:</p> + +<p class="poem">“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,—<br /> +That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds,<br /> +Tho’ they are made and moulded of things past;<br /> +And give to dust that is a little gilt<br /> +More laud than gilt o’erdusted.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>The whole world is kin in this, that all with one consent inexcusably +forget the substantial past and praise the present folly, if that folly be +well tricked out. Humanity proves its oneness by its foibles as well as by +its virtues. “Foolery, sir, doth walk about the orb; like the sun it +shineth everywhere.” Things deserving of laughter and things intended to +provoke it have always been happening; and the faculties by which men +perceive the foolish and ludicrous have always existed in human nature.</p> + +<p class="poem">“Quips and cranks and wanton wiles,<br /> +Nods and becks and wreathed smiles,<br /> +Sport that wrinkled care derides,<br /> +And laughter holding both his sides,”—</p> + +<p>all these were in the past as well as in the present. They are “touches of +nature” that “make the whole world kin.”</p> + +<p>The statement was made in the preceding chapter that the writers of the +Bible, especially of the historical books, drew faithfully from real life, +and sketched manners and traits as they found them. They neither smoothed +over nor concealed anything.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> They were absolutely frank. This fidelity to +nature made it inevitable that the writers should now and then depict the +ludicrous side of life and character, describe grotesque situations and +paint amusing scenes. These are not uproariously funny, they will not +provoke boisterous merriment, any more than will a page of Addison; but +they are none the less specimens of genuine humor. Indeed, Carlyle reminds +us that “true humor springs not more from the head than from the heart; it +issues not in laughter, but in smiles that lie far deeper.”</p> + +<p>We may be sure that all life from the very beginning has had its humorous +no less than its serious side. If any record had been kept, we should no +doubt find that Adam and Eve had their jokes about the apples—it is +universally assumed that they <i>were</i> apples—on that forbidden tree, and +that they were quite as good as any jokes that have been made about those +same apples in more recent years. The masons and bricklayers on the tower +of Babel no doubt poked their thumbs into each other’s ribs and slapped +each other on the back to emphasize<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> their rude jokes about the late “wet +spell,” and wondered how long it would take to get to Heaven with their +building. And we imagine that even during the flood itself there were +sanguine souls who took the whole matter philosophically, declaring that +‘it never rained long when the clouds looked <i>that</i> way and the wind was +in <i>that</i> direction.’ The Israelites, we suspect, lightened their bondage +in Egypt by mimicking the pompous manners of their hated taskmasters and +ridiculing the fools who thought that bricks could be made without straw. +And the grimmest Egyptian mummy that now graces a museum or helps to +fertilize the wheat-fields of the West once wore a smile or grin upon his +leathern face as he related to a brother mummy how Pharoah made sport of +the Israelites by promising to “let them go,” and then when they were all +on tip-toe with expectation, countermanding the order. Then they would +both shake their heads and chuckle with delight over the pleasant humor of +their monarch and declare that ‘Pharoah was in high spirits to-day.’ Thus +the world has rolled and chirruped and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> cackled on since the time when man +emerged from the animal. And Holmes suggests, in our motto, that the sense +of humor was in the animal before man.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the humor of the Bible lies in the thing described,—the odd or +awkward or absurd thing said or done.</p> + +<p>“The Iliad,” says Sidney Smith, “would never have come down to these +times, if Agamemnon had given Achilles a box on the ear. We should have +trembled for the Æneid, if some Trojan nobleman had kicked the pious Æneas +in the fourth book. Æneas, may have deserved it, but he never could have +founded the Roman Empire after so distressing an accident.” And yet +accidents quite as distressing, if not of precisely the same nature, have +happened in the best families that ever lived upon this planet. The +writers of the Bible have not hesitated to give us a very frank account of +some of them.</p> + +<p>Imagine the vacant look of the terrified Aaron, as he gave his imbecile +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>explanation of the golden calf! Moses and Joshua are coming down from the +mountain. “And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, +he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And Moses +answered, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is +it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them +that sing do I hear.” Soon they draw near the camp and see “the calf and +the dancing.” Then does the anger of Moses wax hot. In his rage he flings +down and shatters the “tables of stone.” Like a whirlwind he descends upon +the camp, hurls the miserable calf into the fire, and demands an +explanation of his recreant brother. “What did this people unto thee that +thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?” Aaron quails beneath the +wrath of Moses and stammers: “Thou knowest the people that they are set on +mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us: +for as for this Moses”—think of that, <i>this Moses</i>—“that brought us up +out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> him.” You see +they are set on mischief; they were disrespectful even unto you—<i>this +Moses</i>. Something had to be done. “And I said unto them, Whosoever hath +any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into +the fire, and”—what do you suppose happened?—“<i>there came out this +calf</i>!” I was as much surprised as you are, but no one is responsible—<i>it +did itself</i>!</p> + +<p>In quaint fashion did Saul make honest confession when smitten with +remorse on account of his persecution of David: “Behold I have played the +fool!” The regret of Prince Hal also—“Thus do we play the fools with +time, while the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.”</p> + +<p>What an odd—almost laughable—spectacle is the bombastic Nebuchadnezzar, +one moment proudly striding along the battlements of his palace, “Is not +this great Babylon which I have builded?”—the next eating grass like the +beasts of the field! As Carlyle says: “A purple Nebuchadnezzar rejoices to +feel himself now veritably emperor of this great Babylon which he has +builded;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> and <i>is</i> a nondescript, biped-quadruped, on the eve of a seven +years’ course of grazing.”</p> + +<p>There is a scene in the life of David in which that worthy is represented +as cutting fantastic capers before high heaven. At one time, in order to +keep out of Saul’s way, David went down to Gath. The servants of King +Achish recognize him, and tell their royal master that this is the famous +David over whose exploits the daughters of Israel sang. “Is not this +David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in +dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten +thousands?” But David does not wish his identity known and with +characteristic shrewdness he feigns insanity. “He feigned himself mad, and +scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his +beard,”—a sorry looking hero! So thinks the king Achish. What, this the +man that slew the giant? this drivelling lunatic the victor that Israel’s +daughters praised? His disgust knows no bounds. He is almost as grotesque +in his anger as is David in his appearance and conduct. He turns upon his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +courtiers in offended dignity and cries, “Lo, ye see the man is mad; +wherefore have ye brought him to me? <i>Have I need of madmen</i>, (are not ye +my own servants sufficient?) that ye have brought this fellow to play the +madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” “Fool me no +fools,” says King Achish. When King Achish asked, “Have I need of madmen?” +he evidently thought of his own servants and courtiers as did Christian +I., of Denmark, in modern times, of those who graced <i>his</i> Court. He +sharply remarked, on a presentation to him of several court fools, that +“he was not in want of such things, and if he were, he had only to give +license to his courtiers, who, to his certain knowledge, were capable of +exhibiting themselves as the greatest fools in Europe!”</p> + +<p>In Nehemiah’s account of building the walls of Jerusalem, he shows how +sorely the Jews took the clumsy jibes of their foes and gives us a +specimen of Samaritan joking in that early day. Sanballat mocked the Jews +and said, “What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the +stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burned?” Tobiah, the Amorite, +was yet more caustic: “Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he will +even break down their stone wall.” This ridicule, although the jests do +not seem very formidable to us, was harder to bear than attacks with sword +and spear. It is so to-day. We can stand anything but laughter. One would +rather be made to appear infamous than ridiculous. The only answer the +builders could make was to pray for the destruction of their sarcastic +persecutors. They wished that heaven’s bolts of lightning might answer +these bolts of wit.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the humor lies in the description itself rather than in the +thing described. Dr. Barrow, in his famous essay, says of facetiousness, +“Sometimes it is wrapped up in a dress of humorous expression.”</p> + +<p>An excellent example is furnished in the account of the mob at Ephesus: +“Some,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> therefore, cried one thing and some another; for the assembly was +confused; <i>and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together</i>.”</p> + +<p>When Sidney Smith speaks of “distressing accidents,” we are reminded that +an exceedingly “distressing accident” happened in the very first family of +which we have any record—the family that started in Eden. Aside from any +question as to the literal truth of the story, nothing can exceed the +simplicity and naturalness with which the writer has described the +culprits and their excuses. The first thing they did after their +transgression was to hide. The supreme and perpetual folly of guilt is to +imagine that it can be hid when the voice of the Lord God is heard in the +garden. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art +thou?” The culprit creeps forth from his hiding-place and stammers, “I +heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I +hid myself.” “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the +tree whereof I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?” Now the guilty +secret is out and Adam pleads in extenuation, “The woman that thou gavest +to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.” It was no fault of +mine. That <i>woman</i> was to blame—the woman, O Lord, remember, that <i>thou</i> +gavest to be with me. Is not a little of the responsibility thine also, O +Lord? A touch of nature! “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever +shall be!” But Eve will not bear all the blame. She also is ready with her +excuse: “The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.” Another remove in the +location of the responsibility. If we can forget all that theology has put +into this story and look on it simply as a bit of literature, it is a +charming description of the way in which we mortals disclaim +accountability for our deeds.</p> + +<p class="poem">“And oftentimes excusing of a fault,<br /> +Doth make the fault worse by the excuse;<br /> +As patches set upon a little breach,<br /> +Discredit more in hiding of the fault,<br /> +Then did the fault before it was so patched.”</p> + +<p>Job has expressed his contempt for Adam’s conduct in Eden by invoking upon +himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> even greater ills than he was then suffering, if he followed that +disgraceful example,—“If I covered my transgression as Adam, by hiding my +iniquity in my bosom.” In magnificent scorn of Adam’s hiding from the Lord +and laying his guilt upon another, Job exclaims, “Behold, my desire is +that the Almighty <i>would</i> answer me!” and avows that “he would declare +unto him the number of his steps, and as a prince would go near unto +him,”—not skulk away from his presence among trees and bushes. The low +estimation in which Job holds Adam suggests that the old Hebrew who wrote +the story in Genesis, may have intended to hold up that primal man in a +humorous light.</p> + +<p>Whether the story of Balaam is literally correct in its details is one of +the questions this little volume is not intended to discuss. The writer of +that story tells his tale as naïvely as if conversations between men and +animals were of everyday occurrence. If we read it as we would any similar +piece, any other fable in which men and beasts speak to each other, we +should say that there were some elements of the ludicrous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> in the picture +of the prophet rebuked by his ass. “And the ass saw the angel of the Lord +standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned +aside out of the way and went into the field. And Balaam smote the ass to +turn her into the way.” Just what any one would do to a “shying” animal, +upon impulse. “But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, +a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw +the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed +Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he smote her again.” Naturally enough! +“And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where +there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when +the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam; and +Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.” The rising +wrath of the prophet can no longer be controlled. The turning from the +way, the crushing of his foot against the wall, and finally the falling +down under him and refusing to proceed further,—these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> indignities on the +part of the ass at length exasperate the prophet beyond all measure, and +he right lustily lays on the cudgel. “What have I done unto thee that thou +hast smitten me these three times?” meekly inquires the belabored ass. +“Because thou hast mocked me, I would that there were a sword in my hand, +for now I would kill thee,” roars Balaam. Thou hast mocked me; thou hast +played tricks upon thy master, the prophet of God. Thou hast done this on +purpose to vex me and put me to shame. Thou hast made a sorry spectacle of +me with thy pranks, and thou hast crushed my foot in the bargain. “Am I +not thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this +day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?” Should you not have known there +was something unusual? These are touches of nature in a story which might +illustrate the saying of Isaiah in which he attributes higher wisdom to +brutes than to men: “The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s +crib, but Israel doth not know, my people will not consider.” Was it this +saying that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>Shakespeare had in mind when he said, through the lips of +Mark Antony:</p> + +<p class="poem">“O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,<br /> +And men have lost their reason.”</p> + +<p>At one time the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and other cities, +and put them into the cities of Samaria to take the places of the children +of Israel; but the new inhabitants did not fear the Lord, so the writer +tells us that the Lord sent lions among them and slew them. Some one spoke +to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which thou hast moved and +placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the +land.” They are not acquainted with his habits and methods, and have +gotten themselves into great trouble. The God of the land has sent lions +among them. The king, hearing this, is in great dismay. It will never +do—the ravages of those lions must be stopped. He evidently thought, as +did Nick Bottom, “There is no more fearful wild-fowl than your lion +living, and we ought to look to it.” “Then the king of Assyria <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>commanded, +saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and +let him go there and dwell and teach them the manner of the God of the +land.” The priest went and taught the uninitiated people not to provoke a +God who could let hungry lions loose upon them at any moment. The people +listened in terror. The result of the instruction was that “the people +<i>feared</i> the Lord,”—with a side glance at the lions. They tried to +refrain from what would make him angry enough to order out the lions but +after all—and there must have been a twinkle in the eye of the scribe as +he recorded it—“<i>they served their own gods</i>.”</p> + +<p>When Queen Vashti refused to come into the presence of King Ahasuerus and +his drunken lords, she did something that was wholly unprecedented. +Nothing of the kind had ever before been heard of in the whole history of +the empire. The revellers are shocked sober. Consternation reigns supreme. +When did a queen ever refuse to do the bidding of a king? a wife the +bidding of a husband? Are all our ancient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> notions of propriety to be +overturned? What will be the effect of Vashti’s rebellion? The feelings of +the king are outraged because the queen declines to unveil her beauty +before his roistering courtiers. Enraged, he demands, “What shall be done +unto Queen Vashti because she hath not performed the commandment of the +King Ahasuerus?” It is a grave question. The lords themselves have a stake +in this matter. They fear the result of this strong-minded example. The +contagion of disobedience may spread. If it should, whose authority as +husband is safe? And Memucan answered, “Vashti, the queen, hath not done +wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people +that are in the province of the King Ahasuerus. For this deed of Queen +Vashti’s shall come abroad to all women, to make their husbands +contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be reported that the King +Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, <i>but she +came not</i>. And this day shall all the princesses of Persia and Media which +have heard of the deed of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> queen, say the like unto all the king’s +princes. So shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.” Such a thought +could not be entertained. As Dogberry would put it, “It is most tolerable +and not to be endured.” Memucan, therefore, advises: “If it please the +king let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written +among the laws of the Persians and Medes, that it be not altered, that +Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal +estate unto another that is better than she.” The penalty is severe, but +the case is one that demands heroic treatment. “And when the king’s decree +which he shall make, shall be published throughout all his empire, <i>all +the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both great and small</i>.” The +advice is accepted. “The saying pleased the king and the princes; and the +king did according to the word of Memucan; for he sent letters into all +the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing +thereof, to every people after their language, that <i>every man should bear +rule in his own house</i>.” Thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> perished the first recorded movement in the +direction of woman’s rights!</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<p>The humor of the Biblical writers is often shown in the way they pierce +through outward actions and penetrate to the hidden motives of men. Before +their keen vision external disguises are vain.</p> + +<p>Let us turn to the account of sending the demons from the maniac into the +swine. Let us take the account that speaks of but one maniac. “Then they +that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country. And +they went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and +see him that was possessed of the devil and had the legion, sitting +clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.” It must have seemed +absurd to the evangelist that these Gadarenes should have been afraid of +the insane man after he had been restored. But the swineherds have not yet +told all their story. “And when they that saw it told them how it befell +to him that was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> possessed with the devils and <i>also concerning the +swine</i>—” “Aye, there’s the rub!” “when they heard <i>that, they began to +pray him to depart out of their coasts</i>.” A man has been restored, but a +herd of swine has been lost. This new prophet will ruin us all, if he +stays here. Let him begone. Though he saved men, they prayed him to depart +because he let the swine be drowned. Jesus himself said once that “every +man was of more value than many sparrows;” but these Gadarenes seemed to +think that no man was worth “two thousand swine.”</p> + +<p>In the preceding section of this chapter, Paul’s description of a mob is +noted. It will be interesting to understand the occasion of that mob. When +Paul preached at Ephesus, there was a marked decline in the demand for +images and silver shrines of Diana. The market became weak. One of the +principal manufacturers, Demetrius, called together all who were in the +same business and said: “Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our +wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that not alone in Ephesus, but almost +throughout all Asia, this Paul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> hath persuaded and turned away much +people, saying that there be no gods which are made with hands: so that +not only <i>this our craft is in danger to be set at naught</i>, but that the +temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence +should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth!” Demetrius, +the unctuous hypocrite, seems to throw the real consideration into the +background, and to be actuated mainly by concern for the honor of his +goddess. Ah, Demetrius, Demetrius, little do you, little do your fellow +craftsmen care for Diana and her worship, except as you get your gain +through her devotees. But make the people think you are full of zeal for +religion, and under the mantle of this falsehood cloak your motives, as +you rush through the streets crying, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!” +Rouse the populace, always ripe for mischief, and always more furious than +ever when they think that religion, something of which they do not +understand the first letter, and of which they are absolutely destitute, +is in danger. Rouse the people, make a pious demonstration,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> O Demetrius, +but know that he who recorded it all for future ages, wrote down your +inmost secret—“<i>By this craft we have our wealth!</i>”</p> + +<p>Another instance of hypocrisy similar to that of Demetrius, occurred at +Philippi. Paul and his comrades had spoiled the business of certain ones +who had in charge a damsel who uttered prophecies and told fortunes, by +casting out her “spirit of divination.” “<i>And when her masters saw that +the hope of their gains was gone</i>, they caught Paul and Silas and drew +them into the market-place unto the rulers, and brought them to the +magistrate, saying, These men being Jews do exceeding trouble our city, +and teach customs which are not lawful for us to observe, being Romans.” +It is patriotism that furnishes the cloak in this case. No allusion to +their loss of money—surely not; what matters that? “He who steals my +purse steals trash.” But we must do our duty by our fellow-citizens. We +must not let these Jewish notions corrupt our civilization. We are loyal +Romans, let all the world know! Is there not something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> in this incident +to suggest the truthfulness of Dr. Johnson’s remark, “Patriotism is the +last refuge of a scoundrel?”</p> + +<p>The result of the uproar was that the apostles were beaten and cast into +prison. Somehow it was soon discovered that they themselves were Roman +citizens, “and when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, +saying, Let these men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to +Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go; now, therefore, depart and +go in peace.” It is now Paul’s turn to be indignant, and he is not the man +to let the opportunity slip. Paul insisted, as he had a right to do, upon +his dignity as a Roman citizen. He tartly replied, “They have taken us +openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and do +they now thrust us out privily? Nay, verily; but <i>let them come themselves +and fetch us</i>.” A touch of nature there! “And they came (meekly enough +now, those pompous magistrates) <i>and brought them out</i>.”</p> + +<p>A man who never lacked courage was Paul. It had been told him that there +were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> certain ones among the Corinthians who had respect for his letters, +but something bordering on contempt for his person. “For his letters, they +say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his +speech contemptible.” This is his answer: “Let such an one think this, +that such as we are in word by letters, when we are absent, such will we +be also in deed, when we are present.” Let those scoffers look to +themselves!</p> + +<p>In lighter and almost playful vein, is his remark about the church at +Corinth, in his second letter: “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought +among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” And yet +there was one point in which the Corinthian church was inferior to others: +“For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, <i>except it be +that I myself was not burdensome unto you</i>?” Paul had allowed the other +churches with which he labored to support him, but to the Corinthian +church he had not accorded the same privilege. He had favored it with no +opportunity for benevolence. “<i>Forgive me</i>,” he exclaims, “<i>this wrong</i>.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>Paul relates that on one occasion he had a dispute with Peter at Antioch, +in which he “withstood Peter to the face, because Peter was to blame.” It +is to be doubted whether Peter ever quite forgot this dispute. The memory +of it may have lingered and been particularly active when he referred in +one of his own letters to “our beloved brother Paul who, according to the +wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles +speaking of these things; <i>in which are some things hard to be understood, +which they that are unstable and unlearned do wrest</i>, as they do also the +other Scriptures, (pray do not think that I am making brother Paul’s +writings an exception) <i>to their own destruction</i>.”</p> + +<p>There is another phase of this general subject that is reserved for +separate treatment in the following chapter. We pause here to say that the +people of Bible times have been removed from the people of to-day by a +chasm too wide and deep. We have been accustomed to look upon them as +belonging to another race—almost to another world. It is difficult to +believe that they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> were “men of like passions with ourselves.” It seems +almost like sacrilege to intimate that they had their follies and +weaknesses; that they did things absurd and laughable, and sometimes went +farther and did things that were mean and wicked. There was a vast deal of +human nature in those sublime characters. Gail Hamilton sums them up as +follows: “Adam had dominion over the earth, but he attempted to shield +himself from the divine displeasure by laying the blame upon his wife, +which no gentleman would ever do. Noah was a ‘just man and perfect in his +generation,’ if you do not mind an occasional fit of drunkenness. Abraham +was a fine old sheik, a truly heroic figure, brave, generous, courteous, +hospitable, magnanimous; no wonder the haughty Jews loved to remember and +repeat that they were Abraham’s children. But Abraham had his weaknesses +and fell before his temptations; and Isaac followed in his footsteps. Of +Jacob perhaps the least said the better, though he maintained his position +as head of his family with unrelenting vigor, calling no man master, +either son or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> king. There may have been other men whose life was ‘without +fear and without reproach’; but their history is unknown to us; their +portrait is hardly more than a name.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV. THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS.</h2> + + +<p>“When a child, with child-like apprehensions that dived not beneath the +surface of the matter, I read those parables—not guessing the involved +wisdom—I had more yearnings toward that simple architect that built his +house upon the sand, than I entertained for his more cautious neighbor; I +grudged at the harsh censure pronounced upon the quiet soul that kept his +talent; and prizing their simplicity beyond the more provident, and to my +apprehension, somewhat <i>unfeminine</i> wariness of their competitors, I felt +a kindness that amounted almost to a <i>tendre</i> for those thoughtless +virgins. I have never made an acquaintance since that lasted, or a +friendship that answered, with any that had not some tincture of the +absurd in their characters.”—<i>Charles Lamb.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“Amid the sorrow, disappointment, agony, and anguish of the +world,—our dark thoughts and tempestuous passions, the gloomy +exaggerations of self will, the enfeebling illusions of +melancholy,—wit and humor, light and lightning, shed their soft +radiance and dart their electric flash.”—<i>Whipple.</i></p></div> + + +<p>“How curious it is,” says the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, “that we +always consider solemnity, and the absence of all gay surprises and +encounters of wits, as essential to the idea of the future life of those +whom we thus deprive of half their faculties and then call <i>blessed</i>! +There are not a few who, even in this life, seem to be preparing +themselves for that smileless eternity by banishing all gayety from their +hearts and all joyousness from their countenances.” Rather than believe in +the “smileless eternity” of such as these, we should accept the conjecture +of Soame Jennings, that “a portion of the happiness of seraphim and just +men made perfect would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> be derived from an exquisite perception of the +ludicrous.”</p> + +<p>To that school of melancholy teachers who frown upon all pleasantry, and +buttress their gloomy position with the assertion that “Jesus wept but +never smiled,” the title of this chapter will be particularly offensive. +It will strike them as downright blasphemy to intimate that Jesus +possessed and used the sense of humor so common to mankind. We assuredly +appreciate the delicacy of the position, and shall endeavor to avoid, in +our treatment of this subject, anything that might wound the most +sensitive soul.</p> + +<p>There are several considerations that will pave the way. We take it for +granted that Jesus was a complete human being, and that as such a being he +must have had all the human attributes and faculties,—the faculty of +mirthfulness among them. He was a man, and lacked nothing that pertains to +men. Then, too, had he been without the sense of humor, much in the lives +and characters of those with whom he had to deal, he never could have +understood and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> reached. The full success of his mission depended upon his +knowing all that there is in man, and upon being able to gain access to +him through every avenue of his nature.</p> + +<p>Nor were the circumstances of his life unfavorable to the development of +this particular attribute. Theology and Art have conspired to produce upon +the world the impression that Jesus was an exceptionally wretched and +suffering man. They have taken one or two expressions in Isaiah, such as, +“his countenance was marred,” “he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with +grief,” expressions which they misunderstood and misapplied, and with them +have laid the foundations of their house of woe. They have seized upon a +few of the sadder incidents of his career, and have exaggerated them into +undue prominence,—have given them undue proportions. Especially have they +made much of his agony in the garden and his death upon the cross. These +events have been magnified into such mountains that all the rest of his +life seems to lie hidden beneath their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> shadows. It appears never to have +entered the mind of either preacher or painter that the physical anguish +of his death must have been even less than that which many martyrs at the +stake or martyrs upon sickbeds have borne; and that before death came, he +had lived a life with many bright days and many happy experiences. His +existence upon earth was not a protracted sorrow, a monumental grief. Many +a rose had blossomed at his feet before the thorns were twisted into a +crown for his brow.</p> + +<p>What shall we say of the thirty peaceful years under his father’s roof, +with his brothers and sisters? Did he not in boyhood have the amusements +of other children? Is there not a memento of his youthful sports in what +he says of the games of the children in the marketplace, when they were +playing at weddings and funerals? Did he not, when a young man, delight in +his home and in his companions? Can we imagine that he moved among those +who were nearest and dearest to him, with a face to which a smile was as +much a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> stranger as a tropic flower to the frozen zone?</p> + +<p>When, as a mature man, he entered upon his public ministry, although he +was exposed to frequent attacks from the representatives of the +established religion, yet he was never without friends; never without a +place of refuge from the heat of battle. There were many homes in which a +welcome always awaited him, and whose hospitality he gladly accepted. Is +it probable that he was accustomed to sit in these homes—to use +Shakespeare’s phrase—“like his grandsire cut in alabaster?”</p> + +<p>More than once we are directly told that “he rejoiced in spirit;” more +than once he spoke of his “joy” to his disciples. There is much evidence +that Jesus was not a wretched but a happy man. Did this happiness never +express itself in words or countenance?</p> + +<p>There are other considerations that go far to refute the dismal assertion +that “Jesus wept but never smiled.” Tired mothers brought their children +to him and he rebuked the supercilious disciples who <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>interfered. Can we +think that on this occasion he had a woe-begone look? We read of him often +at feasts; would he have been invited if he had been accustomed to sit at +the table like the skeleton at an Egyptian banquet? Did he not by his +frequent attendance upon festive occasions incur the odium of being a +wine-bibber and a glutton? He was also a favorite with the common people. +They heard him gladly. But there must have been something attractive in +his presence and manner, as well as in his words, and the words themselves +must have appealed to the shrewd, homely, common sense of his hearers. If +he had been the sad spirit he has been pictured, would the people have +followed him and listened to him as they did?</p> + +<p>When we leave the outward circumstances and the presumption they furnish, +and examine the fragments of his speech that have been preserved for us, +many of them certainly contain the element of humor. We should undoubtedly +call it humor if it came from any other lips than those of Jesus; if we +found it in any other book than the New Testament.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>The purpose of this chapter will be grossly misapprehended, however, if +any one shall suppose that we are trying to degrade Jesus to the level of +a professional joker. Nothing is further from our intention. The very +thought is repulsive. One may have and use the sense of humor without +putting on the cap and bells. He may use it with the highest motives and +for the noblest ends. It was said of Hosea Ballou, that “it was no +uncommon thing for him when preaching to excite a smile; but usually it +was done by some ingenious argument that would electrify every one +present.” His biographer adds: “It is not known that any person ever +listened to one of his sermons who was not so impressed with his +sincerity, dignity and earnestness, that the recollection of his +occasional humorous sayings was held subsidiary and helpful to his main +serious purpose. His mother-wit was sanctified. It served a divine mission +in diffusing cheerfulness and health.” We must always remember that wit +and humor do not mean buffoonery.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to understand how any one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> can read many of the parables +and other sayings of Jesus, and still believe the doleful tale that he +“wept but never smiled.” He saw the dancing lights as well as the deep +shadows, the more genial and even ludicrous aspects of life, as well as +its various phases of sorrow and sin, and all these furnished subjects for +his discourse as well as illustrations for his teaching.</p> + +<p>Let us now consider some of the ways in which the sense of humor in Jesus +manifested itself.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<p>The sense of humor often tempered his rebukes. There was often sunshine on +the cloud.</p> + +<p>There were times, indeed, as we shall see, when he spoke with unmeasured +severity, when his words fell like fiery hail, beating and burning the +heads of offenders; but anon he spoke half smiling, half pitying, as if +disposed to laugh at the very inconsistencies he censured. In this respect +his spirit has been caught by Addison and Goldsmith, by Irving and +Dickens. Richter says that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> “no one has a right to laugh at men but he who +most heartily loves them.” Taine says of Dickens, “Before reading him we +did not know there was so much pity in the heart.” Jesus loved men, he +pitied them, even while his eye detected and his words exposed their +faults and foibles.</p> + +<p>He had looked with pleasure (remembering his own childhood), upon the +games of the boys and girls in the streets of Jerusalem; he thought of +their whimsical complaints, as they played at weddings and funerals in the +market-place. On one occasion, his severity mitigated by his sense of the +ludicrous, he exclaimed, “Whereunto shall I liken this generation? and to +what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the +market-places and calling to one another and saying, We have piped unto +you and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you and ye have not +lamented.” Everything had gone wrong. The others would not play fair. They +would not dance when we wanted to play wedding; they would not be mourners +when we wanted to play funeral. We have done all we could to please them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +but they are “too mean for anything.” To the mind of Jesus, the people of +that generation appeared to be making the same complaint. They were +childishly dissatisfied with every divine messenger,—none could please +them. “For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking +wine,”—solemn, gloomy, austere; but they would have none of him. He +mourned unto them, but they would not lament. They would not “play at +funeral” with him. They turned away and said, “He hath a devil.” Then came +the Son of Man, bright and cheerful, “eating and drinking,” but they would +not dance to his piping. They pointed at him and said, “Behold a +gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” It +was impossible to please that generation.</p> + +<p>If we place this passage side by side with the following from Goldsmith, +we shall see at once that if there be humor in the latter, there must also +be humor in the former. The subject is the reception accorded the Chinese +philosopher who tried to please his friends by his demeanor upon the death +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> an English sovereign: “I thought it at least my duty to appear +sorrowful; to put on a melancholy aspect, or to set my face by that of the +people. The first company I came amongst after the news became general was +a set of jolly companions who were drinking prosperity to the ensuing +reign. I entered the room with looks of despair, and even expected +applause for the superlative misery of my countenance. Instead of that, I +was universally condemned by the company and desired to take away my +penitential phiz to some other quarter. I now corrected my former mistake, +and with the most sprightly air imaginable entered a company where they +were talking over the ceremonies of the approaching funeral. Here I sat +for some time with an air of pert vivacity, when one of the chief mourners +immediately observing my good humor desired me, if I pleased, to go and +grin somewhere else; they wanted no disaffected scoundrels there. Fum, +thou son of Fo, what sort of people am I amongst?” <i>Whereunto shall I +liken this generation?</i></p> + +<p>There was a certain time when multitudes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> followed Jesus, not knowing what +they were about, but simply swept along by the enthusiasm of the moment. +He saw that they understood not, so he turned and gave them this gentle +caution: “Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first +and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest, +haply, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all +that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was +not able to finish.” Whoever comes after me and does not count upon +bearing his cross, is in the predicament of this foolish tower-builder,—a +ludicrous spectacle as he sits beside the unfinished structure, his +materials exhausted, while all his neighbors, as they pass by, wag the +head and point the finger. Such a spectacle as that will each one of you +be who does not count the cost of discipleship. With such gentle strokes +of humor did Jesus stay the thoughtless multitudes who imagined that their +empty zeal was genuine loyalty. He set forth their conduct in terms that +would most effectually impress upon them its folly,—in terms that +appealed to their sense of the ridiculous.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>In a sarcastic paragraph of his <i>French Revolution</i>, Carlyle speaks of the +work of the National Convention thus: “In fact, what can be more +unprofitable than the sight of six hundred and forty-nine ingenious men +struggling with their whole force and industry, for a long course of +weeks, to do at bottom this; to stretch out the old Formula and Law +phraseology, so that it may cover the new, contradictory, entirely +uncoverable thing? Whereby the poor formula does but <i>crack</i> and one’s +honesty along with it. The thing that is palpably <i>hot</i>, burning, wilt +thou prove it by a syllogism to be a freezing mixture? This of stretching +out formulas till they crack is, especially in times of swift change, one +of the sorrowfullest tasks poor humanity has.” Was it not this very +formula-stretching that Jesus satirized in more playful vein,—this +formula-stretching that existed in old times and that still exists,—when +he said: “No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, +then, both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the +new agreeth not with the old”? You can not patch up old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> terms with new +meanings. The new meaning agreeth not with the old term. “And no man +putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the +wine-skins and be spilled, and the wine-skins shall perish. But new wine +must be put into new wine-skins, and both are preserved.” The man who +tries to put new senses into old words, new ideas into old formulas, is +like a man who cuts up a new garment to mend an old; like one who puts +wine not yet done fermenting into a skin whose capacity admits no further +strain. He spoils his new coat and he loses his new wine.</p> + +<p>With such illustrations as these, illustrations embodying a figure or +comparison or situation essentially amusing, was Jesus wont to temper his +rebukes.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<p>The sense of humor in Jesus enabled him to detect pretension, imposture, +hypocrisy, and expose them to the derision of mankind.</p> + +<p>If we should find in Dickens or Thackeray such pictures as Jesus has given +of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> Scribes and Pharisees, they would strike us at once as the very +quintessence of humor. “They go arrayed in long clothing, they love the +uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues.” They are +always posturing to attract attention. “They love greetings in the +market-places, to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi.” In their way, they are +as much given to “deportment” as Mr. Turveydrop, when he says, “I suppose +I must now go and show myself about town; it will be expected of me.” When +they pray, they do it standing in the synagogues or at the corners of the +streets that all may see how pious they are; when they perform their deeds +of righteousness, a trumpet is sounded before them, to make solemn +proclamation; as who should say, “Will the public please take notice; I am +about to drop a mite into this poor widow’s hand.” When they fast they put +on “a sad countenance and disfigure their faces” with fictitious woe and +weeping, “that they may appear unto men to fast.” “See how I lay the dust +with my tears,” says Launce. Everything they did was done for effect;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +nothing came from the heart. Their religion was the veriest sham. They had +well-nigh reached the measure of South’s ideal hypocrite, “who never opens +his mouth in earnest, but when he eats or breathes.” Well might Jesus say, +“The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat; <i>all things, therefore, +whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do ye not +according to their works; for they say and do not</i>.” Does not this remind +us of Pecksniff, “who was a most exemplary man, fuller of virtuous +precepts than a copy-book; but some people likened him to a direction-post +which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<p>Not only did the sense of humor in Jesus enable him to unmask pretentious +hypocrites, but also to expose the absurdities that the multitudes +commonly practiced in the name of religion.</p> + +<p>There are those, for example, who in prayer use “vain repetitions,” +thinking that they shall be heard for their “much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>speaking.” They +estimate the efficacy of prayer by its quantity and not by its quality. +They think that if they only keep at it long enough, if they only use +multitudes of words, they will surely attract attention on high.</p> + +<p>There are others who think that religion consists in the “washing of pots +and cups and such like things” and they “lay aside the commandment of +God.” One of their representatives in modern literature is Dolly Winthrop, +who tells Silas Marner about the letters “I.H.S.” pricked upon the +Christmas cakes: “I can’t read ’em myself, and there’s nobody, not Mr. +Macey himself, rightly knows what they mean; but they’ve a good meaning, +for they’re the same as is on the pulpit-cloth at Church; an’ if there’s +any good, we’ve need of it in this world.”</p> + +<p>It is curious how the superstition of externalism has affected many, even +noble minds. Dr. Johnson once said of John Campbell, a political and +philosophical writer, “Campbell is a good man, a pious man; I’m afraid he +has not been inside of a church for a good many years, but he never passes +a church without pulling off his hat. This shows he has good principles.”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<p class="center">IV.</p> + +<p>Jesus perceived the blunders of the well-meaning, but ignorant and +ambitious,—such as the man who went to the wedding party without suitable +garments, and was unceremoniously shown to the door; such as the obtuse +people who, invited to a feast, always took the seats of honor and were as +often courteously escorted to seats further down the table. When the “more +honorable man” came, the host would say, “Give this man place,” and the +other would “begin with shame to take the lowest seat.” Jesus saw these +blunders, and we cannot believe that he was blind to their comical side. +He must have felt that the mistake was a ludicrous one, even when he +advised the stupid people who made it, “When thou art bidden, go and sit +down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say, +Friend, go up higher; and then thou shalt have worship in the presence of +them that sit at meat with thee.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">V.</p> + +<p>The sense of humor in Jesus is still <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>further shown by his selection of +characters for his parables and illustrations. How many of them are what +we should call “odd sticks” to-day!</p> + +<p>Could any one devoid of humor, or opposed to its use, have described such +odd or eccentric people as the fool who thought that sand was as good a +foundation for his house as rock; or the drowsy friend roused at midnight +to lend his neighbor bread and scolding furiously at the annoyance? Then +we have the shepherd’s coward hireling who ran away from his flock when he +saw the wolf coming; the foolish rich man; the unscrupulous steward who +provided for himself by cheating his master; the three fellows who made +such puerile excuses for absenting themselves from the king’s +banquet,—one was interested in a real estate transaction, another was +dealing in stock, while the third had just “married a wife.” Perhaps the +characterization of all these excuses as puerile, may be too sweeping. +This last case may be an exception. Having just entered the holy estate of +matrimony, any plans this man might have formed before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> that event were of +course subject to revision. Let us not be too hard upon him. It may be +that he rests under too heavy a load of censure. He may even be deserving +of sympathy. He said—was there a suggestion of desperation in his +words?—“I have married a wife and therefore I <i>can not</i> come.” The king +ought very likely to have exempted this man from his wrath; for he seems +to say, “I should like to come, but—!”</p> + +<p>Then there was the servant who, in his lord’s absence, got above his +business, assumed the master, became drunken in the company of roisterers, +and beat his fellow-servants; but was at last put to shame by the sudden +and unexpected arrival of his master. This servant was a veritable Jaques +who, in the old play, assumed to be his master, the Duke, and who was +likewise brought to grief by his master’s return: “I must appear +important; big as a country pedagogue when he enters the school-room with +a-hem, and terrifies the apple-munching urchins with the creaking of his +shoes. I’ll swell like a shirt bleaching in a high wind;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and look as +burly as a Sunday beadle when he has kicked down the unhallowed stall of a +profane old apple-woman. Bring my chair of state!”</p> + +<p>There are other characters, such as the shrewd laborer who, digging in a +field, finds a hidden treasure and secreting it goes and buys the field; +the unjust judge who finally, completely tired out, gives way in no very +amiable mood to the widow’s unceasing petitions for justice; the timid +soul, who, fearing to use his talent, hid it in a napkin and buried it in +the earth; the self-righteous Pharisee who recounts his good deeds before +the Lord of the Temple and complacently congratulates himself that he is +not as other men! “God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, +extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice +in the week; I give tithes of all that I get!” Mr. Pecksniff once +more!—so satisfied with himself, “so radiant with ingenuous honesty that +Mrs. Lupin almost wondered not to see a stained-glass glory, such as the +saint wore in the church, shining about his head!”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> +<p class="center">VI.</p> + +<p>In the introduction, reference was made to the words of Mr. Shorthouse +which suggested this investigation. This seems a fitting place to present +the only example in which Mr. Shorthouse has carried out his own +suggestion,—the Parable of the Prodigal Son.</p> + +<p>“But is it trite that there is no humor in the gospels? ‘What strokes of +nature, if not of humor,’ to use Mr. Addison’s words again, may we find in +the story, let us say, of the Prodigal Son? What, in the light of the +modern conception of humor, will come out of this?</p> + +<p>Here, surely, there is no want of real life, of low life, even. Here is a +wild young scamp, as like Tom Jones as heart could wish. Here is +ingratitude, forgetfulness of parents, riotous living, taverns, harlots, +what not? Then beggary, and feeding swine, and living upon husks. Then +when evil living is found not to answer, penitence—like Tom Jones again.</p> + +<p>And ‘when he was yet a great way off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> his father saw him,’ along the stony +road beneath the vine-clad hills. Who can tell how often the father’s eyes +had gazed longingly down the road since his son’s figure, gay, reckless of +the benefits just bestowed, accompanied by servants, eager for the +pleasures of the world, had vanished from his sight? Now, at last, after +so long waiting and looking, he sees in the far distance, a very different +sight. He sees a solitary figure, worn and bent down, in rags, dragging on +its weary steps; how could the old man’s gaze expect such a sight as this? +Nevertheless, his father knew him, ‘and ran and fell on his neck.’ He did +not wait for any accents of repentance, nor did he enforce any moral +precepts which might advantage posterity. ‘He fell on his neck and kissed +him.’ Foolish old father!</p> + +<p>Tom Jones is brought in. He goes to the bath. The familiar feeling of +luxury comes over him once more. He is clothed in fine linen, and has a +gold ring placed on his finger, the past seems an evil dream. Then the +fatted calf is killed. The banquet is spread and there is festivity, +music, and dancing-girls.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>But suddenly, in the midst of his delight, some trouble passes over the +old man’s face; his eldest son is not in his place, and they bring him +word that he is without and refuses to come in. Some perception of a +neglected truth passes through the father’s mind, and he rises and goes +out. ‘Therefore came his father out and entreated him.’</p> + +<p>The eldest son has been out all day working in the vineyards; all his life +had been one long performance of duty, taken for granted, and therefore +unpraised and unrecognized. In how many households will silent witness be +borne that this is real life—the gentle and obedient service +overlooked—nay, more than this, the cross word or hasty temper where +there is no fear that it will be returned.</p> + +<p>‘All these years have I served thee * * * and yet thou never gavest me a +kid that I might make merry with my friends.’ I am a man like others, +gayety and feasting are pleasant to me, as to them.</p> + +<p>A look of perplexed, but growing insight comes into the father’s face. +‘Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>This is all very well, still he is conscious that there is something to be +said for the eldest son, too. But his lost son—his wayward, and therefore +loved son, is come again.</p> + +<p>‘It is meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother +was dead and is alive again.’ We can see the pitiful, pleading look in the +old man’s eyes,—‘thy brother was dead.’</p> + +<p>Yes, Addison must be right. Nature and humor cannot be far apart. The +source and spring of humor is human life. Its charm consists, not merely +in laughter or even in joy, but in the stirring of those sympathies and +associations which exist invariably in the race; for we inherit a +world-life and a religion, the earth-springs of whose realities lie, +perchance, too deep for laughter, but not, Heaven be praised, too deep for +tears.”</p> + +<p>Surely the examples given suggest an eye for the humorous in him who saw +and described them. These illustrations were, indeed, used to convey moral +truths, but they show how wide was the acquaintance of Jesus with all +sorts of characters, and how he loved to use such as were out of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>ordinary; such as, to-day, we should at least call “peculiar.” A +recognition of this fact will help us better to appreciate and more +thoroughly to enjoy those simple, yet wonderful parables, out of which the +heavy hand of a severely literal criticism would crush all “touches of +nature.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2>V. PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS.</h2> + + +<p>“Proverbs, must not be passed over in our enumeration,—proverbs, the +philosophy of the common people; short, pithy, homely sayings that embody +the concentrated essence of the common people’s wisdom. It has been +difficult to give a perfect definition of a proverb, so crowded is it with +the life of shrewdness and experience; yet so easy and negligent is it, +and saucy as it were. Its characteristic excellences are shortness, sense +and salt. It is the wit of one man, the wisdom of thousands.”—<i>Macbeth.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“The proverbialists occupy themselves with life in all its aspects. +Sometimes they simply catch the expression of men, good or bad, or +photograph their actions or thoughts; more generally they pass a +verdict upon them and exhort or instruct men in regard to them. * * * +Some of the proverbs have a certain flavor of humor.”—<i>Davidson.</i></p></div> + + +<p>“The wise men of old,” says Whipple, “have sent most of their morality +down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram: and the +proverbs of nations which embody the common sense of nations, have the +brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit. Almost every sensible remark +on folly is a witty remark. Wit is thus often but the natural language of +wisdom, viewing life with a piercing and passionless eye.” The object of +the present study is to consider those proverbs and other epigrammatic +sayings which distinctly contain the element of wit in some form or other, +and which are so liberally scattered over the pages of the Bible.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">I.—The Book of Proverbs.</span></p> + +<p>In such an investigation, we naturally turn, first of all, to that great +collection of proverbs, with which the name of Solomon has become +identified. They do not, however, represent his genius alone, although we +shall frequently use his name as representative of the whole class of +philosophers. They are the productions of many wise men through many +generations. They are, indeed, the outcome of the life of a whole people, +put into definite shape by those who had insight sufficiently keen and +power of expression sufficiently terse to formulate the lessons of human +experience. “The wise men,” says Canon Driver, “took for granted the main +postulates of Israel’s creed, and applied themselves rather to the +observation of human nature as such, seeking to analyze character, +studying action in its consequences, and establishing morality upon the +basis of principles common to humanity at large. On account of their +prevailing disregard of national points of view, and their tendency to +characterize and estimate human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> nature under its most general aspects, +they have been termed, not inappropriately, the <i>Humanists</i> of Israel. +Their teaching had a practical aim; not only do they formulate maxims of +conduct, but they appear also as moral advisers, and as interested in the +education of the young.”</p> + +<p>The Book of Proverbs is a perfect mine of cunning and glittering +sentences, many of which are witty as well as wise, and none the less wise +because they are witty. There are swords that pierce the hidden motives of +men, and whips that lacerate the backs of their open follies and sins.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>1. The Fool.</i></p> + +<p>There is a personage, or more exactly, an assemblage of certain qualities, +constantly held up to ridicule under the general title of <i>The Fool</i>. +Ruskin says that “folly and sin are to some extent synonymous.” The Fool +in the Book of Proverbs is one who combines mental stupidity with moral +obtuseness. He has a hard time of it at the hands of the proverbialists. +“He that begetteth a fool<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> doeth so to his sorrow; the father of a fool +hath no joy.”</p> + +<p>Foolish persons have always been noted for parading their folly, and +sounding a trumpet to proclaim their lack of understanding. So Solomon +says: “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of +his soul.” “The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright; but the mouth +of fools poureth out foolishness.” “When he that is a fool walketh in the +way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a +fool,”—his scanty supply of sense is not enough to last him to the end of +his journey. There is a modern proverb to the same effect: “He has not wit +enough to last him over night.” Everything the fool undertakes comes to +grief. “He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the +feet and drinketh damage.” “The labor of the fool wearieth every one, +because he knoweth not how to go to the city.” “The simple believeth every +word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” “Let a bear robbed +of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.” No discipline +can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> be too severe for the fool. “Judgments are prepared for scorners and +stripes for the back of fools.” “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the +ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.” But Solomon is not sanguine that the +most rigorous course will produce extraordinary results. “A reproof +entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.” “Wisdom +is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the +ends of the earth.” “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to +get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?” One can almost see that +picture—the fool wandering about the city with money in his hand, +inquiring where a person in need of it might purchase a commodity of good +common sense. “Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat +with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.” In many +other proverbs is the fool gibbeted. “As snow in summer, and as rain in +harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.” “The legs of the lame are not +equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” “As he that bindeth a stone +in a sling, making a dangerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> weapon, so is he that giveth honor to a +fool.” “As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable +in the mouth of fools.” “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than +for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under +a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.” In one chapter Solomon describes a +group of foolish persons. “For three things the earth is disquieted and +for four which it can not bear; for a servant when he reigneth”—the +modern instance is the “beggar on horseback,”—“and a fool when he is +filled with meat; for an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid +that is heir to her mistress.” These four characters “play such fantastic +tricks before high heaven,” that whether the “angels weep” or not, the +earth groans and is “disquieted.” And yet Solomon seems to have found a +more grotesque and incorrigible character than the fool: “Seest thou a man +wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.” The +contempt of the proverbialists for the class of persons here described was +quite as strong as that of Dr. Samuel Johnson.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> When some one hoped that +the good doctor might meet in heaven a certain person whose conduct had +aroused his ire, he retorted with some warmth, “Madam, I am not fond of +meeting fools anywhere.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>2. The Idler.</i></p> + +<p>How these writers love to castigate laziness! They toss the sluggard on +all manner of sharp-pointed epigrams. “He that gathereth in summer is a +wise son; he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” “The +way of a slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,”—he walks as slowly and +painfully as if avoiding thorns on either hand. “As vinegar to the teeth +and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.” “The +slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.” “The sluggard +will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore he shall beg in harvest +and have nothing.” “Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” “He that +tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain +persons”—those who teach him that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> there is any other way to success than +honest industry,—“is void of understanding.” “The slothful man says, +There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets.” “As the door +turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.” “The slothful +hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his +mouth.” Too lazy to eat! This is the very acme of indolence.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>3. The Babbler.</i></p> + +<p>These wise men recommend, in pithy terms, the judicious control of the +tongue. They commend the value of silence. “Whoso keepeth his mouth and +his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” “The beginning of strife is as +when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention before it be +meddled with.” “It is an honor to a man to cease from strife, but every +fool will be meddling.” “Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is +accounted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of +understanding.” This is the same idea which we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> find, in more elaborate +form, in Shakespeare:</p> + +<p class="poem">“There are a sort of men, whose visages<br /> +Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;<br /> +And do a wilful stillness entertain,<br /> +With purpose to be drest in an opinion<br /> +Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;<br /> +As who should say, ‘I am Sir Oracle,<br /> +And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!’<br /> +Oh, my Antonio, I do know of these,<br /> +That therefore only <i>are reputed wise<br /> +For saying nothing</i>: Who, I am very sure,<br /> +If they should speak, would almost damn these ears,<br /> +Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.”</p> + +<p>In point of condensation, the wit of the proverb has the advantage. +Coleridge relates an incident which illustrates that “even a fool when he +holdeth his peace is accounted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is +esteemed a man of understanding.” He once saw, at a dinner table, “a +dignified man with a face as wise as the moon’s.” The awful charm of his +manner was not broken until the muffins appeared, and then the imp of +gluttony forced from him the exclamation—“Them’s the jockeys for me!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>There is a passage concerning the tongue in the Book of James, full of +sayings quite as terse and striking as any in the Book of Proverbs. “If +any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to +bridle the whole body.” “The tongue is a little member and boasteth great +things; behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.” “Every kind of +beasts and birds and serpents is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; +but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly +poison. * * * Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. * * * +Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?”</p> + +<p>This passage from James may be placed side by side with the familiar story +of Æsop. His master, Xanthus, sent him to market to procure the best +things it afforded. When the dinner hour arrived, Xanthus discovered that +nothing but tongues had been provided. “What,” he exclaimed in a rage, +“did I not tell you to procure the best things the market afforded?” “And +have I not obeyed your orders? Is there anything better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> than a tongue? Is +it not the bond of civil society, the organ of truth and reason, the +instrument of our praise and adoration of the gods?” The next day Æsop was +directed to go to the market and purchase the worst things it afforded. He +did so and again purchased nothing but tongues. “What!” cried Xanthus, +“tongues again?” “Certainly; for the tongue is surely the worst thing in +the world; it is the instrument of all strife and contention, the inventor +of law-suits, and the source of all division and wars; it is the organ of +errors, of lies, of calumnies, and blasphemies.”</p> + +<p>“Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men who +are made after the likeness of God; out of the same mouth cometh forth +cursing and blessing.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>4. The Scold.</i></p> + +<p>To return to the proverbs. Solomon had some unhappy domestic experiences, +and such proverbs as these may have been the outcome: “As a jewel of gold +in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman without <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>discretion.” “A continual +dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. Whosoever +hideth her, hideth the wind.” “It is better to dwell in the wilderness +than with a contentious and angry woman.” “Better is a dinner of herbs +where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” “It is better to +dwell in the corner of a house top than with a brawling woman in a large +house.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>5. The Power of Money.</i></p> + +<p>The proverbialists had been close observers of human nature, and of the +ways of the world. “Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a +man are never satisfied.” “A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh +merry; but money answereth all things.” “The rich ruleth over the poor, +and the borrower is servant to the lender.” These wise men had seen much +to justify the sharp arrows they shot at those “who crook the pregnant +hinges of the knee where thrift may follow fawning.” “The poor is hated +even of his own neighbor, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> the rich hath many friends.” “Many will +entreat the favor of a prince, and every man is a friend to him that +giveth gifts.” “A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before +great men.” There is an incident in the second Book of Kings, that +exemplifies, with touches of humor, the truth of these proverbs. “And the +king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, (king of Israel,) for he had +sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and <i>brought no present to the king +of Assyria</i>, as he had done year by year.” The king of Assyria is greatly +shocked at this sign of disrespect. His feelings are outraged and wounded +at receiving no present. It is suspicious, very suspicious! Let this +Hoshea be looked to. The man who fails to bring the usual present is fit +for “treasons, stratagems and spoils.” There is no telling what evil he +may be plotting. Surely there is “conspiracy in him.” “Therefore, the king +of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.” Solomon was right—“A +man’s gift bringeth him before great men,” but the absence of it bringeth +him into prison as a traitor!</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><i>6. Miscellaneous.</i></p> + +<p>Many other examples of wit and wisdom might be given. Let us add a few +miscellaneous ones. Solomon advises against making long calls. Busy men +would do well to hang this motto up in their offices: “Withdraw thy foot +from thy neighbor’s house, lest he weary of thee and so hate thee.” In +Solomon’s wide and varied experiences, there had evidently been occasional +encounters with “bores.”</p> + +<p>It may sometimes be well to present a stern front to the slanderer: “The +North wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a back-biting +tongue.”</p> + +<p>Excellent advice this for those who indorse other people’s notes: “Be not +one of them that strike hands, or one of them that are sureties for debts; +if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under +thee?” “He that hateth suretyship is sure.”</p> + +<p>There were those in that day, as well as in our own, who tried to beat +down the price of an article by depreciating its <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>quality: “It is naught, +it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he hath gone his way, then he +boasteth.” Donald G. Mitchell, in his charming book, <i>My Farm at +Edgewood</i>, has a chapter on “Dickering” which is, in effect, an +elaboration of the proverb last quoted. “Sometime or other, if a man enter +upon farm life—and it holds in almost every kind of life—there will come +to him a necessity for bargaining. It is a part of the curse, I think, +entailed upon mankind at the expulsion from Eden, that they should sweat +at a bargain. * * * If I were to take the opinions of my excellent +friends, the purchasers, for truth, I should be painfully conscious of +having possessed the most mangy hogs, the most aged cows, the scrubbiest +veal, and the most diseased and stunted growth of chestnuts and oaks with +which a country-liver was ever afflicted. For a time, in the early period +of my novitiate, I was not a little disturbed by these damaging +statements; but have been relieved by learning on further experience that +the urgence of such lively falsehoods is only an ingenious mercenary +device for the sharpening of a bargain.”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">II.—Epigrammatic Sayings from other Sources.</span></p> + +<p>The epigrammatic sayings of the Bible are not confined, as we have already +seen, to the Book of Proverbs. We find them elsewhere. Hosea says of +idolaters, “They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind.” +Micah declared of the mercenary prophets, “He that putteth not into their +mouth, they even declare war against him.” At the same time princes and +judges are so corrupt, that “the best of them is as a briar; the most +upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.”</p> + +<p>Jeremiah charges against the people, “As a cage is full of birds, so are +their houses of deceit.” “Can the Ethiopian,” he asks, “change his skin, +or the leopard his spots?” and adds, “Then can ye also do right who are +accustomed to do evil.” This is equivalent to the proverb of another +people: “Though you feed milk to a young snake, will it leave off its +habit of creeping under the hedge?”</p> + +<p>“Can a maid forget her ornaments or a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> bride her attire?” asks Jeremiah; +“yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” “Yea, the stork in +the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and +the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the +judgment of the Lord.” “As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them +not; so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the +middle of his days, and at the end shall be a fool.”</p> + +<p>Isaiah admonishes the people, “Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this +broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and +pierce it; so is Pharoah, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him,”—a +saying which calls to mind the message Jesus sent to Herod, “Go, tell that +fox.” To those who trusted in the prowess of the Egyptians, Isaiah +declares, “Now, the Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses are +flesh and not spirit.” He assures the people that the time will come when +names shall be used with greater discrimination—“The vile person shall no +more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>Job says: “For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild +ass’s colt.” And it is Job who has given us the common expression, “I am +escaped with the skin of my teeth.”</p> + +<p>David says of the hypocrite:—“The words of his mouth were smoother than +butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they +were drawn swords.” “Man that is in honor and understandeth not, is like +the beasts which perish.” “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no +God.” Of the wicked the psalmist exclaims: “Their poison is like the +poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; +which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so +wisely.” Recalling an incident of Israel’s journey through the wilderness, +he gives his opinion of the transaction Aaron tried to disclaim: “They +made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed +their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass!” “Fools, +because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are +afflicted.” He says of those who gave him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> pain,—the “ploughers who +ploughed upon his back and made long their furrows,”—“They shall be as +the grass upon the house-tops which withereth before it groweth up; +wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his +bosom.”</p> + +<p>Paul speaks of those “whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their +shame;” and also of certain ones who “speak lies in hypocrisy, having +their conscience seared with a red-hot iron.” “Rulers,” he says, “are not +a terror to good works, but to evil.” “If a man thinketh himself to be +something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”</p> + +<p>The Book of James has already been quoted in this chapter; but there is +another passage of the proverbial or epigrammatic character that must not +be omitted: “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your +own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is +like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth +himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man +he was.” The Veman proverb is very like this: “Whatever he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> devoid of +understanding may be reading, his virtue continues only so long as he is +reading; even as a frog is dignified only so long as it is seated on a +lotus leaf.”</p> + +<p>One of the best examples of the kind of wit we are now discussing is found +in the account of King Asa’s sickness and death. The writer of the Book of +Chronicles says: “Yet in his disease he sought not unto the Lord, but to +the Physicians;” and then adds with imperturbable gravity, “And Asa slept +with his fathers.” Referring to this passage, Professor Matthews +says:—“It looks like a sarcasm on the medical practitioners of +Palestine.” There is something similar to this in Ecclesiastes: “Wisdom is +good—with an inheritance,” an ancient instance of “the old flag—and an +appropriation.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">III.—The Sayings of Jesus.</span></p> + +<p>To this chapter belong many of the sayings of Jesus. He spoke in proverbs +as well as in parables.</p> + +<p>“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a +rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>“Many are called, but few are chosen.”</p> + +<p>“The first shall be last, and the last first.”</p> + +<p>“A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and among his +friends.”</p> + +<p>“He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; he that exalteth himself shall +be abased.”</p> + +<p>“Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”</p> + +<p>“Physician, heal thyself.”</p> + +<p>“Ye are the light of the world; a city that is set on an hill can not be +hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a +candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”</p> + +<p>“Let the dead bury their dead.”</p> + +<p>“No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the +kingdom of God.”</p> + +<p>“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but +considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” There are several +proverbs in other literatures very like this. The Russian:—“A pig came up +to a horse and said, Your feet are crooked, and your hair is worth +nothing.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> The Bengal:—“The sieve said to the needle, You have a hole in +your tail.” The Chinese:—“Let every one sweep the snow before his own +door, and not busy himself with the frost on his neighbor’s tiles.”</p> + +<p>“Ye can not serve God and Mammon.”</p> + +<p>“A house divided against itself can not stand.”</p> + +<p>“Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but +inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know, them by their fruits. Do +men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?”</p> + +<p>“For unto every one that hath to him shall be given and he shall have +abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which +he hath.”</p> + +<p>“Wheresoever the carcass is, there are the vultures gathered together.”</p> + +<p>“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls +before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn again and rend +you.” Similar proverbs may be gathered from other sources. The Persian +says, “It is folly to give comfits to a cow;” the Veman, “Though you +anoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> an ass all over with perfumes, it feels not your fondness, but +will turn again and kick you;” the Telugu asks, “What can a pig do with a +rose-bottle?” the Tamul says, “Like reading a portion of the Veda to a cow +about to gore you;” and again, “Though religious instruction be whispered +into the ear of an ass, nothing will come of it but the accustomed +braying.”</p> + +<p>“They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Such +sayings of Jesus are true proverbs and instances of genuine wit.</p> + +<p>Archbishop Trench says, “Any one who by after investigation, has sought to +discover how much our rustic hearers carry away even from sermons to which +they have attentively listened, will find it is hardly ever the course or +tenor of the argument, supposing the discourse to have contained such; but +if anything is uttered, as it used so often to be by the best Puritan +preachers, tersely, pointedly and epigrammatically, this will have stayed +by them while all the rest has passed away. Great preachers to the people, +such as have ever found their way to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> the universal heart of their +fellows, have ever been great employers of proverbs.” This principle helps +to explain why, in the case of Jesus, “the common people heard him +gladly.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> +<h2>VI. REPARTEE.</h2> + + +<p>“He that can define, he that can answer a question so as to admit of no +further answer, is the best man. Jesus spent his life conversing with +humble people on life and duty, in giving wise answers, showing that he +saw at a larger angle of vision, and at least silencing those who were not +generous enough to accept his thoughts.”—<i>Emerson.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">REPARTEE.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“And no one was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from +that day forth ask him any more questions.”—<i>Matthew.</i></p></div> + + +<p>The present chapter brings us to the subject of Repartee. Of this form of +wit, Professor Matthews says, “Nothing is more admirable, nothing more +quickly enlists our sympathies, than this perfect command and quick, +instantaneous concentration of the faculties, when a man is taken at a +disadvantage and has to repel an insinuation or an insult at a moment’s +warning. That felicity of instantaneous analysis which we call readiness, +has saved thousands of men from mortification or contempt. The dextrous +leap of thought by which the mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless +dilemma is worth more than all the logic and learning of the world.” “The +impromptu reply,” says Moliere, “is precisely the touchstone of wit.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>The pages of the Bible are sometimes enlivened by sharp repartees. The men +of old time, the men of the Hebrew nation, understood the power of the +quick and flashing answer, as well as more modern generations. Johnson and +Foote and Sheridan might have found it by no means easy to hold their own +in Judea. It is very likely that their powers would have been put to the +severest test.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<p>Turning to the pages of the old Testament, we find many striking examples.</p> + +<p>Ben-hadad sends word to the king of Israel, threatening to destroy his +army. The king of Israel replies, “Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on +his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off.”</p> + +<p>Amaziah desired war with Jehoash. He sends to him saying, “Come, let us +look one another in the face.” Jehoash simply responds to the presumptuous +challenge, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in +Lebanon, saying,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And there passed by +a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle.”</p> + +<p>Job retorts upon Zophar, after a wearisome recital of dreary commonplaces +intended for comfort, “No doubt but ye are <i>the</i> people, and wisdom will +die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior +to you; yea, who knoweth not such things as these?” To the speech +introduced by these words, Eliphaz sharply replies, “Art thou the first +man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the +secret of God, and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou +that we know not? What understandest thou which is not in us? With us are +both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father.” Upon +this latter sentiment Elihu expresses himself when he finds opportunity to +put in a word; “Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged +understand judgment.”</p> + +<p>Indeed the Book of Job abounds in sharp speeches and replies as cutting as +the speeches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> they answer. The sufferer obstinately refuses to accept +their theory of his affliction or to adopt the remedies his friends +propose. “Ye are forgers of lies,” he exclaims, “ye are physicians of no +value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace, and it should be your +wisdom.” In response to this appeal, Eliphaz becoming piqued proceeds to +administer consolation with the lash: “Shall a wise man utter vain +knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with +unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?” “I have +heard many such things,” cries the wretched Job, “miserable comforters are +ye all. If your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words +against you, and shake mine head at you; but I would strengthen you with +my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief.”</p> + +<p>There were some word-battles between Sanballat and Nehemiah while the +latter was trying to build the walls of Jerusalem, and the former was +doing his best to hinder the enterprise. “Come,” says Sanballat, “let us +meet together in one of the villages in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> the plain of Ono,”—let us be +friendly, let us have a pleasant visit together,—“but he thought to do me +mischief.” The crafty Sanballat did not take the builder of Jerusalem +napping. Nehemiah replies, “I am doing a great work so that I can not come +down; why should the work cease whilst I leave it to come down to you?” +Are your wishes of such mighty importance, O Sanballat that I should leave +the Lord’s work? Must the building cease that I may gratify your whim? Go +to, Sanballat, go to; I can not come down. My work is great and noble; +thou art a trifler and hypocrite! In precisely this vein was Spurgeon’s +reply to the pious bore who sent up word, “Tell him a servant of the Lord +wishes to see him.” It was Saturday afternoon, and Spurgeon replied, “Tell +him I am busy with his Master!”</p> + +<p>Sanballat will have at him again: “It is reported among the heathen, and +Gashmu said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause +thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king, according to these +words. And thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +saying, There is a king in Judah; and now shall it be reported to the king +according to these words. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel +together.” To this tissue of falsehoods manufactured by the mendacious +Gashmu, Nehemiah flashes back with indignation, “There are no such things +as thou sayest, but thou feignest it out of thine own heart.” Nehemiah +comes very near giving what Touchstone would call the “lie direct,” and he +gives it without the qualifying “If.”</p> + +<p>Robert Collyer has the following comment upon Gashmu, who was quoted by +Sanballat as authority for the charge that Nehemiah was going to set up +for a king: “This only, this one thing is left: A good man was doing a +good work with all his might, and bad men tried to hinder him. They tried +to hurt his person. Gashmu was above that. He was none of your common +rowdies. Sanballat and Tobiah might do that, but not Gashmu; yet Gashmu +will sit there and nurse his dislike, and be glad to hear the petty +stories that float like thistledown through the neighborhood against the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>innocent man; words are twisted and turned to meanings Nehemiah never +thought of, and Gashmu hopes they are true; he wishes they were true; the +wish is father to the thought, and he believes them. * * * So Gashmu has +permitted his prejudices to grow into a lie. Gashmu is to live thousands +of years for one purely false assertion, and to be the representative man +of unprincipled gossips and narrow bigots as long as the world stands.”</p> + +<p>Another illustration. When the woman, in time of famine, appealed to the +King of Israel as he passed by, “Help, my lord, O King,” he turned upon +her with the somewhat grim rejoinder, “If the Lord do not help thee, +whence shall I help thee?” Her case was hopeless, if the Lord could do +nothing.</p> + +<p>Although the resemblance is not very strong, this incident suggests a +story of Michael Angelo. It calls to mind the way in which he took revenge +upon Biagio di Cesena. This courtier ventured to criticise his Last +Judgment. With a swift stroke he turned the Minos of the fresco into a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>likeness of his critic. Biagio complained to the Pope. “Where has he +placed you?” inquired the Pontiff. “In Hell,” said Biagio. “I am sorry,” +replied the Pope; “If it had been in Purgatory, something might have been +done, but in Hell I have no jurisdiction.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<p>Examples of prompt and keen retort are not confined to the Old Testament. +When we turn to the New Testament, we find additional illustrations.</p> + +<p>When Paul was making his defence before the Council, he said, “Men and +brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” +This declaration of innocence offended the High Priest Ananias, and he +commanded those who stood by, to smite the speaker on the mouth. This +raised the indignation of Paul, and with the swiftness of an arrow he +transfixed the Priest, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for +sittest thou to judge me after the law and commandest me to be smitten +contrary to the law?” This was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> understood as a bolt of invective by those +who heard it, for they asked in alarm, “Revilest thou God’s High Priest?” +The answer of Paul was a still more subtle sarcasm: “<i>I wist not, +brethren, that he was the High Priest</i>.” There was nothing in the conduct +of the man to betoken the dignity of his office. God’s High Priest must +surely be fair and impartial. God’s High Priest would never counsel +violence. The mistake, Paul would imply, was perfectly natural and +excusable.</p> + +<p>There is a story of John Randolph not unlike this. Indeed, the sarcasm is +the same in spirit and purpose. Paul admitted that “one must not revile +God’s High Priest,” but <i>he did not perceive that the High Priest was +present</i>. The coarse, loud, ill-tempered person who commanded to smite him +on the mouth could not be High Priest! The following was the occasion of +Randolph’s sarcasm: During the winter of 1834 a member of the House, to +whom he was much attached, died. His place was taken by a young man, vain +and ambitious, who began his career by making a bitter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> attack on Mr. +Randolph. No reply was made by the latter. Several days passed, when a +question came up in which he was deeply interested, and he delivered a +very earnest and impressive speech. As he closed, he said, “I should not, +Mr. Speaker, have returned to press this matter with so much earnestness, +had not my views possessed the sanction and concurrence of my late +departed friend, <i>whose seat, I lament, is now unhappily vacant</i>.”</p> + +<p>How skillfully, in the story of the young man who had been healed of his +blindness, does the subject of the cure parry the thrusts of the synagogue +authorities! “Give God the praise,” they exhort, “we know that this man is +a sinner!” “Whether he be a sinner or no,” says the young man, “I can not +tell; one thing I know that whereas I was blind, now I see.” Thus +repulsed, they begin again. “What did he to thee? How opened he thine +eyes?” He replies, “I have told you already, and ye did not hear; +wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?” Stung to +the quick, they revile him, “Thou<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> art his disciple, but we are Moses’ +disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow we +know not from whence he is!” Thoroughly aroused, the young man sends home +to them a final thrust: “Why herein is a marvelous thing that ye know not +from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes? Now we know that God +heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth his +will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man +opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not of God, he could +do nothing!” Abuse and excision alone remain to the rulers of the +synagogue. “Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?” +And they cast him out. Excommunication is the sole answer of priest-craft +and bigotry to reason.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<p>To many readers it may seem impious to say that under the head of Repartee +we must classify many of those words of Jesus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> with which he cuts through +the sophistry of opponents and disentangles himself from the webs that are +woven about him. Let it be remembered, however, that we are dealing with +his utterances simply as literature; with their religious significance, we +are not now concerned. We are discussing the sayings of Jesus as we would +the sayings of Johnson or Goldsmith.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking instances is found in the controversy over +exorcism. When the scribes who came down from Jerusalem charged, “He hath +Beelzebub and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils,” he quickly +reduced the accusation to an absurdity: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If +he rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an +end.” He goes further—“If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your +children cast them out?”</p> + +<p>There was one occasion, however, when Jesus himself seems to have been +vanquished by a swift rejoinder. When the Syro-Phenician woman came to him +in behalf of her daughter, in order to test her faith he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>said,—“Let the +children first be filled, for it is not meet to take the children’s bread +and to cast it unto the dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “yet the dogs +under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.” These words came from a +bright intellect as well as from a trusting heart. Jesus appreciated the +keenness of the reply no less than the confidence it expressed. “<i>For this +saying</i> go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.” “For once,” +says Macbeth, “Jesus was refuted and that by his own figure; and he wished +to be refuted.”</p> + +<p>How we enjoy such a dilemma as the one in which he placed the chief +priests and the scribes and the elders! They asked him, “By what authority +doest thou these things? And who gave thee authority to do these things?” +“I will also ask of you one question,” says Jesus, “and answer me, and I +will tell you by what authority I do these things—the baptism of John, +was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.” “And they reasoned with +themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then did +ye not believe him? But if we shall say<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> of men,—they feared the people; +for all men counted John that he was a prophet, indeed. And they answered +and said unto Jesus, We can not tell.” “And Jesus answered and said unto +them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”</p> + +<p>Another time “came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, +saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders? for +they wash not their hands when they eat bread?” How quick and effective +the reply: “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your +tradition?” Nothing could be said in response. The question was absolutely +closed. The disciples violate your tradition? Very good; but what does +your tradition violate? Can we not see his opponents, falling back beaten, +knitting their brows, taking counsel together, planning some overwhelming +defeat for this impudent young heretic? What Thersites said of Ajax would +well apply to them: “He bites his lips with a politic regard, as who +should say, There were wit in this head an’ ’twould out; and so there is, +but it lies as coldly in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> him as fire in a flint, which will not show +without knocking.”</p> + +<p>When the woman poured the spikenard on the head of Jesus, Judas, the +virtuous Judas, forsooth! made objection. “Why was not this ointment sold +for three hundred pence <i>and given to the poor</i>?” Why not, indeed,—for +Judas is custodian of the poor fund. “Judas,” returns his Master,—and +there was pathos as well as rebuke in the words,—“Judas, the poor ye have +with you always, and whenever ye will, ye may do them good.” This was the +first time Judas had ever manifested any solicitude for the poor. “But me, +ye have not always.” Judas was silenced; but he began to brood revenge. +Soon he stole out and went to the chief priests. He had not secured the +price of the spikenard, but he would indemnify himself by selling his +Master!</p> + +<p>With what relish do we read the trenchant replies of Jesus to the Scribes +and Pharisees and Herodians who had leagued to “entangle him in his talk.” +Easily as Samson broke the green withes, did he break the verbal fetters +they forged. “In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in +marriage!” “Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God +the things that are God’s.” What can be more admirable viewed simply as +repartee,—as illustrations of the “dexterous leap of thought by which the +mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless dilemma?” If one were to read such +fragments of Gospel history for the first time, without the idea that he +must attach a solemn and awful meaning to every word, how would he delight +in these intellectual contests and hail the genius of the victor!</p> + +<p>After the besiegers, in the preceding incident, had exhausted their +fruitless ingenuity, Jesus turns upon them with the question, “What think +ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?” “The Son of David,” they feebly mutter. +“How then doth David call him Lord? If David call him Lord, how is he his +son?” That ended the controversy. The combined forces of theology and +politics retired in confusion, evidently looking, as Dickens said of the +portraits of the Dedlock family, “as if they did not know what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> to make of +it.” They had lost the battle. One can imagine the evangelist who +afterwards wrote the account, almost chuckling with inward satisfaction, +as he recalled the scene and recorded the result: “And no man was able to +answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day ask him any more +questions.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> +<h2>VII. Wit and Logic.</h2> + + +<p>“Who would say that truth ought to stand disarmed against falsehood, or +that the enemies of the faith shall be at liberty to frighten the faithful +with hard words or jeer at them with lively sallies of wit, while the +Christians ought never to write except with a coldness of style enough to +set the reader asleep?”—<i>Augustine.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">WIT AND LOGIC.</p> + + +<div class="note"><p>“I was not gone far before I heard the sound of trumpets and alarms, +which seemed to proclaim the march of an Enemy; and as I afterwards +found was in reality what I apprehended it. There appeared at a great +distance a very shining light, and in the midst of it a person of most +beautiful aspect; her name was <i>Truth</i>. On her right hand, there +marched a male deity, who bore several quivers on his shoulders, and +grasped several arrows in his hand. His name was Wit.”—<i>Addison.</i></p></div> + + +<p>In her essay on Heine, George Eliot writes: “Every one who has had the +opportunity of making the comparison, will remember that the effect +produced on him by some witticisms is closely akin to the effect produced +on him by subtle reasoning which lays open a fallacy or absurdity; and +there are persons whose delight in such reasoning always manifests itself +in laughter. This affinity of wit with ratiocination is the more obvious +in proportion as the species of wit is higher and deals less with words +and with superficialities than with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the essential qualities of things. +Some of Dr. Johnson’s most admirable witticisms consist in the suggestion +of an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity of an action or +proposition; and it is only their ingenuity, condensation and +instantaneousness which lift them from reasoning into wit.” The opinion of +George Eliot has been shared by others. Pitt declared that “all wit is +true reasoning,” and Rogers says that “wit is truth.” A French writer has +observed that “reason needs to be armed with the terrible epigram.” And +even solemn John Milton writes of Plato’s dialogues, “There is scarce one +of them, especially wherein some notable sophister lies sweating and +turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless dilemmas of Socrates, but he +that reads, were it Saturn himself, would be robbed of more than a smile.”</p> + +<p>There are in literature abundant examples of the condensed logic of +wit,—the logic that exposes a fallacy, answers an objection and +demolishes an argument, without resorting to major and minor premise and +formal conclusion. One or two of these may pave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> the way to the main +purpose of this chapter. “Where was your Protestant Church before Luther?” +asked a Catholic of Wilkes. “Did you wash your face this morning?” said +Wilkes. “I did, sir.” “Where was your face before you washed it?” The +logic of wit as employed by Dr. Johnson, is referred to by George Eliot. +On one occasion it was debated whether a clergyman who had five years +before been guilty of some grave sin should be reinstated. Johnson +inquired whether the man had repented. It was admitted that he had. +“Then,” said Johnson, “if he has repented, is he not good enough to go to +heaven?” “Certainly.” “Why, sir, then there is no objection. A man who is +good enough to go to heaven is good enough to be a clergyman.” Johnson +denounced Lord Bolingbroke in the following immortal analogy: “Sir, he was +a scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against +religion and morality, a coward because he had not resolution enough to +fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw +the trigger after his death.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>A certain clergyman who had been addicted to bawling and roaring in the +pulpit said, “I once thought it was the thunder that killed, and know now +that it is the lightning that does the execution. I mean to thunder less +and lighten more.” Sir Thomas Overbury punctures certain pretensions thus: +“The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors, +is like a potato—the only good belonging to him is underground.” +Thompson, of the <i>Westminster Review</i>, defended the Radicals against the +attacks of the Whigs in this manner: “Noah was a Radical when, hearing the +world was to be drowned, he went about such a commonsense proceeding as +making for himself a ship to swim in. An antediluvian Whig would have laid +together half-a-dozen sticks for an ark and called it a ‘virtual +representation.’”</p> + +<p>The principle that underlies these instances is obvious. The form may vary +but in every case there is an analogy that serves all the purposes of +formal logic,—“an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> of an +action or proposition.” The writers of the Bible understood and employed +the same principle.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">I.</p> + +<p>One of the best examples of its use is found in Nathan’s parable. He goes +to David and tells him: “There were two men in our city; the one rich, the +other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor +man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought and +nourished up; and it grew up together with him and with his children; and +it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, +and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich +man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress +it for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s +lamb and dressed it for the man that was come unto him.” Such an action is +so atrocious that it kindles David’s wrath. He little suspects the purpose +of the wily prophet. “As the Lord liveth,” he cries, “the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> man that hath +done this thing shall surely die! And he shall restore the lamb four-fold +because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Beware, David, +beware! This Nestor-prophet, this Nathan of the subtle wit and keen-edged +tongue hath digged a pit for thee and thou hast fallen into it. Swiftly +the prophet smites the bewildered king with the conclusion, “<i>Thou art the +man!</i>” Could a volume of reasoning have so impressed David with the +enormity of his crime as this simple “analogy” of Nathan?</p> + +<p>A similar instance is found in the first book of Kings. Ahab the king of +Israel had allowed the Syrian general, Ben-hadad, to escape. One of the +prophets, determined to rebuke him, disguised himself and sat by the +wayside, waiting until the king should pass by. “And as the king passed +by, he cried unto the king and said: Thy servant went out into the midst +of the battle, and behold a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and +said, Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be +for his life or else thou shalt pay a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> talent of silver. And as thy +servant was busy here and there he was gone.” Ahab does not suspect the +snare of the prophet. What would my lord, the king, decide? Shall thy +servant pay the forfeit? “And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall +thy judgment be; thyself hath decided it.” And he made haste, removed his +disguise, and said to the king: “Thus saith the Lord: <i>Because thou hast +let go out of thine hand a man whom I had appointed to utter destruction, +therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people</i>.” +Ahab has judged himself. No wonder he was vexed. “And the king of Israel +went to the house heavy and displeased.” Nothing so disconcerts one as the +recoil of his own logic.</p> + +<p>Let us place side by side with these illustrations one or two pieces of +the same kind of reasoning from Shakespeare. The Court Fool endeavors to +show Lear his own pitiful lack of wisdom in giving away his kingdom to his +daughters:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Fool.</span>—Nuncle, give me an egg, and I’ll give thee two crowns.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Lear.</span>—What two crowns shall they be?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>“<span class="smcap">Fool.</span>—Why, after +I have clove the egg i’ the middle and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i’ the +middle and gavest away both parts, thou borest thine ass on thy back +o’er the dirt; thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou +gavest thy golden one away.”</p></div> + +<p>Upon another occasion the following dialogue occurs:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“<span class="smcap">Fool.</span>—Canst thou tell how an oyster makes his shell?</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Lear.</span>—No.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Fool.</span>—Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Lear.</span>—Why?</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Fool.</span>—Why to put his head in; not to give it away to his daughters +and leave his horns without a case.”</p></div> + +<p>Lear is so stung with the sense of his folly by these “analogies” of his +jester that he exclaims in rage and bitterness, “I shall forget my +nature!” It is the argument of Nathan, “Thou art the man.”</p> + +<p>Upon the same principle, but in a different way, the Psalmist reasons with +those who “slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless,” and +who say, “The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard +it.” Thus he argues: “Understand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> ye brutish among the people; and ye +fools, when will ye be wise? <i>He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? +he that formed the eye, shall he not see?</i>”</p> + +<p>Under this head must we also place the judgment of Solomon, when the two +women came before him, each claiming the living child. “Then said the +king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth and thy son is dead; and +the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead and mine is the living one. +And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the +king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to +one and half to the other. Then spoke the woman whose the living child was +unto the king, for her heart yearned upon her son, and she said, O my +Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other +said, Let it be neither thine nor mine, but divide it. Then the king +answered and said, Give her (the first) the living child, and in no wise +slay it; she is the mother thereof.” Solomon had to use a sharp argument, +but he settled the controversy.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<p class="center">II.</p> + +<p>The “suggestion of an analogy that immediately exposes the absurdity of an +action or proposition,” was the favorite method of argument with Jesus.</p> + +<p>He spun no metaphysical cobwebs, he used no long chains of linked +propositions; it is no irreverence to say that his quick wit was his main +reliance. In a sentence or two, with a simple, homely figure, he reduced +to an absurdity the conduct he censured and the proposition he opposed.</p> + +<p>On one occasion he was asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” +“What man shall there be among you,” he answered, “that shall have one +sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold +on it and bring it out? <i>How much more, then, is a man better than a +sheep?</i> Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.”</p> + +<p>At another time the same subject came up. Because Jesus had healed on the +Sabbath day, the ruler of the synagogue was filled with indignation and +made a very grotesque spectacle of himself. He stormed, scolded,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> and +roared to the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work; in +them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Jesus +answered: “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose +his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought +not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, +these eighteen years, <i>be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day</i>?” The +indignant ruler had to smother his wrath. “And when he (Jesus) had said +these things, all his adversaries were ashamed.” The people enjoyed their +confusion, and evidently applauded the sharp-witted young prophet who had +silenced the fault-finding tongues of the rulers. “All the people rejoiced +for the glorious things that were done by him!”</p> + +<p>The Scribes and Pharisees were once murmuring and complaining that he +mingled with publicans and sinners, and even condescended to eat with +them. “And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a +physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but +sinners to repentance!”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>When the Pharisees and Sadducees desired that he would show them a sign +from heaven, he answered and said unto them, “When it is evening, ye say +that it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, It +will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and lowering. O, ye +hypocrites, <i>ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern +the signs of the times?</i>” He uses essentially the same argument for a +similar request: “When ye see a cloud rise out of the West, straightway ye +say, There cometh a shower, and so it is. And when ye see the South wind +blow, ye say, There will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, +<i>ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that +ye do not discern this time?</i>” Says Geike, “With biting irony, he turned +on them in a few brief, incisive sentences. * * * An evil and adulterous +generation seeks after a sign of the approach of the Kingdom of God, while +it is blind to the signs around that the Messiah must come, if the nation +is not to perish.”</p> + +<p>In a similar manner he shows how ridiculous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> are the doubts of those who +fear that God will not answer prayer. “If a son ask bread of any of you +that is a father, will ye give him a stone?” How this must have arrested +the attention of his auditors; how they began to listen, curious to know +what was coming next. “Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a +serpent?” Now they exchange glances as much as to say, “No, no; surely we +would not do that!” But only for a moment. The expectant faces are again +turned upon the Great Teacher. “Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer +him a scorpion?” “No, no!” and now they are eager for the conclusion: “<i>If +ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask +him?</i>” It is the climax of absurdity for you to think that you are better +than God, and will do more for your children than the Great Father will do +for his children!</p> + +<p>The disciples of Jesus came to tell him that the Pharisees are offended at +some of his sayings. His only reply is, “Let them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> alone; they be blind +leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall +into the ditch.”</p> + +<p>When he charges the Pharisees with tithing mint, anise, and cummin, while +neglecting judgment, mercy and faith, he stamps their conduct with an +“analogy” that makes them ludicrous forever, “Ye blind guides <i>which +strain out a gnat and swallow a camel</i>.”</p> + +<p>At dinner, he was rebuked by his host for permitting a penitent woman to +wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head. +“Simon,” calmly returned the guest, “I have somewhat to say to thee.” +“Master, Say on.” Jesus then proceeds to impale him upon the following +question: “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one +owed him five hundred pence, the other fifty. And when they had nothing to +pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will +love him most?” Simon understands whither the question tends, and slowly +and reluctantly comes his answer: +“I—suppose—that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>—he—to—whom—he—forgave +most.” “Thou hast rightly judged.” Yes, Simon, but thou hast condemned thyself and justified the woman.</p> + +<p>The story of the vineyard and its application are similar to Nathan’s +parable. “There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and +hedged it round about and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, +and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the +time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that +they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, +and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other +servants, more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last +of all, he sent unto them his Son; saying, They will reverence my Son. But +when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the +heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance. And they +caught him and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.”</p> + +<p>This is the story. Jesus turns to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> Pharisees: “When the Lord, +therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husbandmen?” +Priests and Pharisees are moved with indignation. This is horrible; it +almost exceeds belief. Those husbandmen were monsters of ingratitude and +wickedness! The Pharisees answer: “He will miserably destroy those wicked +men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall +render him the fruits in their seasons.”</p> + +<p>Fatal answer for you, O Scribes and Pharisees! “Therefore I say unto you, +<i>the Kingdom of God shall be taken from</i> <span class="smcaplc">YOU</span>, and given to a nation +bringing forth the fruits thereof.” There is a touch of humor in Matthew’s +description of the manner in which the real object of this story dawned +upon the minds of the hearers. “And when the Pharisees had heard his +parable, <i>they perceived that he spake of them</i>.” Are we not irresistibly +reminded of Falstaff, when the fairies in the forest turned out to be +flesh and blood, “I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass?” Do we not +feel about many of these condensed arguments of Jesus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> as Milton did +about the “sophist sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and +merciless dilemmas of Socrates,” that “he who reads, were it Saturn +himself, would be robbed of more than a smile?”</p> + +<p>Let us add by way of comparison, a passage from the Athenian Master. Here +is a fragment of dialogue upon the enslaving power of money.</p> + +<p>“Come, now, and let us reason with the unjust who is not intentionally in +error. ‘Sweet sir,’ we will say to him, ‘what think you of things esteemed +noble and ignoble? Is not the noble that which subjects the beast to the +man, or rather to the god in man? and the ignoble that which subjects the +man to the beast?’ He can hardly avoid saying Yes,—can he now?”</p> + +<p>“Not if he has any regard for my opinion.”</p> + +<p>“But if he admit this, we may ask him another question,—How would a man +profit if he received gold and silver on condition that he was to enslave +the noblest part of him to the worst? Who can imagine that a man who sold +his son or daughter into slavery for money, especially if he sold them +into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> the hands of fierce and evil men, would be the gainer, however large +might be the sum which he received? And will any one say that he is not a +miserable caitiff who sells his own divine being to that which is most +atheistical and detestable, and has no pity?”</p> + +<p>This selection will enable us to see that the method commonly used by +Socrates was essentially the method that Jesus so frequently employed.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center">III.</p> + +<p>When we pass on to other portions of the New Testament, we find examples +of the same kind of reasoning in James and Paul.</p> + +<p>Most admirably does James show the futility of faith without works. “What +shall it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not +works? Can faith save him? If a brother and sister be naked and destitute +of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed +and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are +needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not +works, is dead, being alone.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>The class of people referred to by James are aptly described by Fielding +in the character of Peter Pounce. “Sir,” said Adams, “my definition of +charity is a generous disposition to relieve the distressed.” “There is +something in that definition,” answered Peter, “which I like well enough; +it is, as you say, a disposition to do it, and does not so much consist in +the act as in the disposition to do it. But, alas! Mr. Adams, who are +meant by the distressed? Believe me, the distresses of mankind are mostly +imaginary, and it would be rather folly than goodness to relieve them.” +“Sure, sir,” replied Adams, “hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and +other distresses which attend the poor, can never be said to be imaginary +evils.” “How can any man complain of hunger,” said Peter, “in a country +where such excellent salads are to be gathered in almost every field? or +of thirst, where every river and stream produce such delicious potations? +And as for cold and nakedness, they are evils introduced by luxury and +custom. A man naturally wants clothes no more than a horse or any other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +animal; and there are whole nations who go without them.” Peter Pounce +would have said to the “brother or sister naked and destitute of daily +food,” “<i>Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled.</i>”</p> + +<p>The declaration of James that “faith without works is dead,” is +illustrated in the sayings of others also:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Sweet words, empty hands.”—<i>Telugu.</i></p> + +<p>“Kindness, but no milk.”—<i>Urdu.</i></p> + +<p>“Though they are brothers, their pockets are not sisters.”—<i>Turk.</i></p> + +<p>“It is not by saying Honey, Honey, that sweetness comes into the +mouth.”—<i>Ib.</i></p> + +<p>“His words leap over forts, his feet do not cross the +threshold.”—<i>Telugu.</i></p> + +<p>“If you do not ask me for food and raiment, I will care for you as my +own child.”—<i>Ib.</i></p></div> + +<p>Equally admirable is that comparison of Paul in which he likens the Church +to the human body and shows the folly of jealousy and schism: “If the foot +shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it +therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the +hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>Very pleasantly, but very effectually, does he remind those who professed +to “speak with tongues” a sort of supernatural language, in the early +Christian assemblies, that it was “better to speak five words with the +understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” An +illustration serves his purpose. “Even things without life, giving sound, +whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in sound, how shall +it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain +sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? So likewise ye, except ye +utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known +what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.”</p> + +<p>Paul maintains the right of those who establish and teach churches, to be +supported by those churches. It was a right upon which he did not always +insist in his own case; but he fought for it as a great principle. “Mine +answer to them that do examine me is this: Have we not the power (the +right) to eat and drink?” The objector would admit this. Very well!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> “Who +goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and +eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of +the milk of the flock? * * * If we have sown unto you in spiritual things, +is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal things? * * * Do ye +not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of +the temple? They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? +Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should +live of the gospel.” There is no gainsaying this argument. The “analogy” +is unanswerable.</p> + +<p>Already once or twice in this chapter, reference has been made to Socrates +and his method. Much of the following passage would apply equally well to +Jesus or James or Paul: “He generally begins with some question, +apparently so simple, so stupidly simple, and at such a distance from the +field of discussion, that his opponent often hesitates whether most to +admire the docility or wonder at the stupidity of the querist, and with a +complacent smile, half of pity, half<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> of contempt, promptly replies. Other +questions succeed faster and faster, more and more difficult, and +gradually approaching, in one long spiral of interrogations, the central +position in which the unhappy sophist’s argument stands. He now finds it +impossible to escape, and confounded, perplexed and irritated, discovers +that he is compelled to admit some palpable contradiction to his original +assertions, and this too by means of those simple and innocent premises +which he had so unsuspectingly granted. He feels himself within the coils +of a great logical boa-constrictor who binds his folds together tighter +and tighter till the poor sophist is absolutely strangled.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> +<h2>VIII. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.</h2> + + +<p>“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth +in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city +she uttereth her words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love +simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate +knowledge? Turn you at my reproof!”—<i>Solomon.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.</p> + +<div class="note"><p>“The oldest jibe in literature is the ridicule of false +religion.”—<i>Emerson.</i></p> + +<p>“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall hold them +in derision.”—<i>Psalms.</i></p></div> + + +<p>In the Bible, the elements of wit and humor are effectively employed in +dealing with the sins of men. Evil doing, in its various motives and +manifestations, is denounced, rendered repulsive, made ghastly and +terrible, and when everything else has been done, it is exhibited as +grotesque and ludicrous. Sin is the great absurdity of the universe. Were +it not so tragic, it would shake the very heavens with laughter.</p> + +<p>One of the old English poets has these lines:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“He who does not tremble at the sword,<br /> +Who quails not with his head upon the block,<br /> +Turn but a jest against him, loses heart;<br /> +The shafts of wit slip thro’ the stoutest mail.<br /> +There is no man alive that can live down<br /> +The inextinguishable laughter of mankind.”</p> + +<p>With this fact the writers of the Bible were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> quite as well acquainted as +are the writers of modern times. They took advantage of it for the same +purpose.</p> + +<p>“Of this we may be sure,” says Hazlitt, “that ridicule fastens on the +vulnerable points of a cause, and finds out the weak sides of an argument; +if those who resort to it sometimes rely too much on its success, those +who are chiefly annoyed by it almost always are so with reason, and can +not be too much upon their guard against deserving it.”</p> + +<p>Into hearts impervious to all else, the writers of the Bible drove the +javelins of ridicule.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Sluggard.</i></p> + + +<p>If anything could make a lazy man feel uncomfortable, it would be such +thorns as those Solomon has planted in his pillow:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“I went by the field of the slothful,<br /> +And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;<br /> +And lo! it was all grown over with thorns,<br /> +The face thereof was covered with nettles,<br /> +And the stone wall thereof was broken down.<br /> +Then I beheld and considered well,<br /> +I saw and received instruction:<br /> +‘A little sleep, a little slumber,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>A little folding of the hands to sleep.’<br /> +So shall thy poverty come as a robber,<br /> +And thy want as an armed man.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></span><br /> +How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard,<br /> +When wilt thou rouse thee out of thy sleep?”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Unfaithful Friend.</i></p> + +<p>If anything could make an unfaithful and deceitful friend, one who +professes much in times of prosperity and performs nothing in times of +need, ashamed of himself, it would be such a comparison as we find in the +book of Job:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“My brethren are deceitful, like the brook<br /> +As the channel of brooks that pass away,<br /> +They become turbid from ice,<br /> +The snow hides itself in them.<br /> +At the time they are poured off, they fail;<br /> +When it is hot they are consumed from their place.<br /> +The caravans along their way turn aside;<br /> +They go up into the wastes and perish.<br /> +The caravans of Tema looked,<br /> +The companies of Sheba hoped for them;<br /> +They were ashamed that they had trusted,<br /> +They came thither and were confounded.”</p> + +<p>The friends of Job were like streams in the early spring, when melting ice +and snow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> filled their channels, and the waters were not needed; but in +the heat of summer, when fainting caravans looked for refreshment, dry and +dusty.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Drunkard.</i></p> + +<p>If anything could move a drunkard to forswear his cups and lead a sober +life, it would be such a sarcastic description of him as that which +follows:—</p> + +<p class="poem">“Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention?<br /> +Who hath complaining? Who hath wounds without cause?<br /> +Who hath redness of eyes?<br /> +They that tarry long at the wine,<br /> +They that go to try mixed wine.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span></span><br /> +Thine eyes shall behold strange things,<br /> +And thy heart shall utter froward things,<br /> +Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,<br /> +Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.”</p> + +<p>The poem closes with a terrible thrust. After the folly of the drunkard +has been described, his physical and mental condition pointed out—the red +eyes, the strange things seen in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>delirium, the incoherent babbling, the +unsteady gait, the surrounding perils,—the devotee of strong drink is +made to exclaim, “<i>When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again!</i>” Knowing +its effects, suffering in mind and body from his potations, such is the +incorrigible stupidity of the wine-bibber that he no sooner wakens from +his drunken slumber than he goes forth to seek again the source of his +wretchedness!</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Idolater.</i></p> + +<p>Nowhere is the use of ridicule by the writers of the Old Testament +displayed to better advantage than in their treatment of idolatry. Against +this sin they brought to bear the most potent weapons of their wit. None +of the resources of expression were left untried. Witness the withering +irony with which Elijah mocked the frantic priests of Baal: “And it came +to pass that at noon Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a +god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or +peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.” No finer bit of irony can +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> found in any literature. Indeed, we may regard it as the most perfect +specimen extant of this species of wit.</p> + +<p>Jeremiah exclaims, “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the +house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their +priests, and their prophets, <i>saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and +to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth</i>.”</p> + +<p>The Psalmist thus speaks of the gods of the heathen:</p> + +<p class="poem">“They have mouths, but they speak not;<br /> +Eyes have they, but they see not;<br /> +Noses have they, but they smell not;<br /> +They have hands, but they handle not;<br /> +Feet have they, but they walk not;<br /> +Neither speak they thro’ their throat.”</p> + +<p>Having thus described the senselessness and impotence of the gods of the +heathen, he adds:</p> + +<p class="poem">“They that make them are like unto them,<br /> +So is everyone that trusteth in them.”</p> + +<p>In a similar vein Jeremiah ridicules the idols: “For the customs of the +people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the +hands of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with +gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They +are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, +because they can not go. <i>Be not afraid of them; for they can not do evil, +neither also is it in them to do good.</i> * * * The stock is a doctrine of +vanities.”</p> + +<p>Isaiah satirizes the idolaters in this fashion: “They shall be turned +back, they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images, they that +say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind +that ye may see. Who is blind but my servant? or deaf as my messenger that +I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect (in his own estimation), and +blind as is the Lord’s servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest +not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. * * * Who among you will give +ear to this and hearken and hear for time to come?”</p> + +<p>Ezekiel declares that, on account of their idolatries, the people have +become as worthless as a withered vine. Nothing useful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> can be made out of +it. It is only fit for the fire. “What is the vine tree more than any +tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood +be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any +vessel thereon? Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire +devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet +for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work; how much +less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, +and it is burned? Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree +among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so +will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”</p> + +<p>There is an elaborate piece of sarcasm in the forty-fourth chapter of +Isaiah: “He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak +which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest; he +planteth an ash and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man +to burn; for he will take thereof and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it +and baketh bread.” The tree<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> which this idolater takes has grown up as any +other tree, and after it is cut down, it is devoted to the same ordinary +uses. Yet out of that very tree, “he maketh a god and worshippeth it; he +maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereto.”</p> + +<p>The prophet repeats and amplifies, “He burneth part thereof in the fire; +with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast and is satisfied; +yea, he warmeth himself and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire; +and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth +down unto it and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, Deliver +me, for thou art my God.”</p> + +<p>Then he concludes: “And none considereth in his heart, neither is there +knowledge nor understanding to say, <i>I have burned part of it in the fire; +yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh +and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I +fall down to the stock of a tree?</i>” The idolater does not see, does not +“consider” what an abject simpleton he is to make a god out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> the same +material with which he bakes bread and roasts meat. It is as if the +prophet should say, “What sort of a god is that, O Israel, with which you +do your broiling and baking?”</p> + +<p>Robert South comments on this passage: “With one part he furnishes his +chimney, with the other his chapel. A strange thing that the fire must +consume this part and burn incense to that! As if there were more divinity +in one end of the stick than in the other; or as if it could be painted +and graven omnipotent, or the nails and hammer could give it an +apotheosis.”</p> + +<p>The fatalistic excuse which the people make for their idolatries and other +sins, is thus disposed of by Jeremiah: “Behold ye trust in lying words +that can not profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear +falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye +know not; and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my +name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this +house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><i>Refuges of Lies.</i></p> + +<p>Isaiah charges the rulers of the people with forsaking the word of the +Lord, and substituting for his truth false maxims and iniquitous precepts. +They refuse to obey the divine commands, and lead their subjects also into +rebellion. They have adopted other rules of life than those delivered by +the prophets of Jehovah,—other national policy than that promulgated from +above. In their overweening pride and self-confidence, they look with +disdain upon the requirements of God. Isaiah represents them as saying, +“We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; +when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto +us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid +ourselves.” But the prophet warns them that their fancied security shall +be broken up. “Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to +the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the +waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death +shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> be disannuled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When +the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down +by it.” He pauses a moment, after this strain of invective, and then +sarcastically describes the insufficiency of their refuges by another +figure, ludicrous enough, that of a man trying to stretch himself upon too +short a bed, and to cover himself with too narrow a blanket. “For the bed +is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering +narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>False Prophets.</i></p> + +<p>Ezekiel tells us that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Son of +Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say unto +them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord. +Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their +own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like the +foxes in the desert. * * * They have seen vanity and lying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> divination, +saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them.” These prophets +were endeavoring to soothe the people, to cover up their sins, to +dissipate their fears of retribution. “They have seduced my people, +saying, peace, when there is no peace.” Then Ezekiel describes their work. +They are like foolish masons who build a wall with mortar that will not +hold the stones together,—“untempered mortar!” Can such work last? Can +such a structure stand? “Say unto them which daub it with untempered +mortar that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O +great hail-stones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo! when +the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing +wherewith ye have daubed it?” Did ye not boast of your mortar? Did ye not +promise the people that it would hold? Alas for you, O prophets! Alas for +your work! “The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the +prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see +visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>Most contemptuously does Isaiah speak of the false prophets: “The Lord +will cut off from Israel, head and tail, branch and root, in one day. The +ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, +<i>he is the tail</i>.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The King of Assyria.</i></p> + +<p>Isaiah ridicules the high and mighty pretensions of the King of Assyria. +That monarch boasts of his achievements. He takes the credit of all to +himself. He wears the glory alone. “By the strength of my own hand, I have +done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds +of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the +inhabitants like a valiant man.” Falstaff could not proclaim his own +prowess, in more bombastic style. “I am a rogue, if I were not at +half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together. I have ’scaped by +miracle: I am eight times thrust through the doublet; four through the +hose; my buckler cut through and through; my sword hacked like a handsaw.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +I never dealt better since I was a man.” Now let the Assyrian resume his +parable: “And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and +as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and +there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.” +Falstaff will match him again: “There is not a dangerous action can peep +out his head, but I am thrust upon it. Well, I can not last for ever; but +it was always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good +thing, to make it too common. * * * I would to God my name were not so +terrible to the enemy as it is!”</p> + +<p>The prophet, after allowing the Assyrian to sound his brazen trumpet, +turns upon him, and sarcastically reminds him that he is simply a tool, a +rod, a staff, in the hands of the Lord, and that he has of himself +accomplished nothing: “<i>Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth +therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?</i> +as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if +the staff should lift itself up as if it were no wood!”</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><i>The King of Babylon.</i></p> + +<p>One of the most powerful passages of invective in any literature is that +in which Isaiah pictures the fall of the King of Babylon.</p> + +<p>He begins—“How hath the oppressor ceased!” Then he sets forth the joy of +the earth itself over the discomfiture of him who “smote the people in +wrath with a continual stroke.” All creation is glad. “The whole earth is +at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir-trees +rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid +down, no feller is come up against us.” This is the state of things on +earth.</p> + +<p>There is commotion in the lower world, there is mockery of the humiliated +monarch as he descends among the shades. “Hell from beneath is moved for +thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even +all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all +the kings of the nations.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>The shadowy, ghostly company gather about the fallen potentate and taunt +him: “Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy +pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is +spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from +heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground +which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will +ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will +be like the Most High! Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the +sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and +consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, +that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and +destroyed the cities thereof?”</p> + +<p>Then the prophet concludes: “All the kings of the nations, even all of +them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of +thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> those that are +slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, +as a carcass trodden under feet!”</p> + +<p>It is truthfully remarked that “keen thrusts and tingling ironies will +rouse the slumbering, startle the stolid, shame the profligate, and set +the thoughtless to thinking. While it is true that ridicule is not the +test of truth, it is equally certain that it is only by ridicule that many +dull-witted and sin-steeped persons can be made to see and feel the truth. +It would be well for mankind in general, if all could be made to feel that +wickedness is as contemptible as it is hateful. There is a stupidity in +sin, a thick, rhinoceros skin of insensibility, which only the +feather-winged arrows of wit can pierce. Iniquity has a pachydermatous +hide, and can feel only when coals of fiery ridicule are laid upon its +back, and blown by the breath of laughter.”</p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2>IX. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.</h2> + + +<p>“If our Savior himself never laughed, it is difficult to believe that the +bystanders did not laugh, or at least smile, when he tore the mask from +the hypocritical pharisees who laid heavy burdens on men’s shoulders which +they themselves would not move with their fingers, and devoured widows’ +houses, even while for a pretence they made long prayers.”—<i>Matthews.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> +<p class="title">THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.</p> + +<p class="center">“Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.”—<i>Paul.</i></p> + + +<p>The writers of the Old Testament who used the glittering lances of wit +against the foes of truth and righteousness, had worthy successors in +evangelists and apostles, and in Jesus himself. These men were indignant +at hypocrisy and wrong-doing; they looked with scorn upon the swelling +pretensions of the religious leaders; they expostulated with affectionate +earnestness and severity with their own brethren who suffered themselves +to be led astray. Indignation is not necessarily wrong or unchristian. The +faculty of indignation is an essential part of human nature, and when +aroused against evil its operations are beneficent. It in no wise +diminishes the reverence we feel for Jesus, that he made a scourge of +cords and lashed the traders and money-changers from the temple!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>Ruskin says, “There is no black horse in the chariot of the soul. One of +the driver’s worst faults is starving his horses; another is not breaking +them early enough; but they are all good. Take, for example, one usually +thought of as wholly evil—that of anger, leading to vengeance. I believe +it to be quite one of the crowning wickednesses of this age, that we have +starved and chilled our faculty of indignation, and neither desire nor +dare to punish crimes justly.”</p> + +<p>This faculty of righteous wrath when it takes shape in irony, ridicule, +sarcasm, invective, is the mightiest foe of vanity, hypocrisy, pretension, +corruption, and vice. By its sword do they perish. The teachers and +writers of New Testament times, did not disdain to use in their work every +instrument of power known to the human mind. From their own stand-point, +at least, they had many false notions and customs to combat; they had the +ignorant, prejudiced, officious and fault-finding to deal with; they were +harrassed by narrow and persistent opponents; they had to do battle at +every step. They might have exclaimed with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> modern writer, “Let us be +thankful that we have in wit a power before which the pride of wealth, and +the insolence of office are abased; which can transfix bigotry and tyranny +with arrows of lightning; which can strike its object over thousands of +miles of space, across thousands of years of time; and which through its +sway over an universal weakness of man, is an everlasting instrument to +make the bad tremble and the foolish wince.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Choice of the Jews.</i></p> + +<p>There is an excellent piece of quiet sarcasm in John’s account of the +trial of Jesus. He first gives us Pilate’s conclusion in these words: “And +when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith: I find +no fault in him at all; but ye have a custom that I release unto you one +at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the +Jews?” Pilate is willing; he pronounces Jesus innocent; but the crowd +clamor and refuse. “Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +Barabbas.” John closes the account with an inoffensive looking sentence, +but one so full of bitter satire, that we can not help thinking of the +time when he wished to call down fire from heaven. Jesus is an innocent +man—so pronounced by the governor—but the Jews cry out for his blood. +They want Barabbas released. And who is Barabbas? Who is this popular +idol? Who is the man that the people prefer to Jesus the upright and +spotless? With a rapier-like thrust, John pierces the heart of that +iniquitous choice, “<i>Now Barabbas was a robber</i>.” It is a stroke worthy +the “Son of thunder.”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>The Weakness of Pilate.</i></p> + +<p>But think not, O Pilate, that thou shalt escape. The same hand that cast +the first javelin, will also send one to pierce thy heart. In the next +chapter, John tells us how, up to a certain point, Pilate sought to +release Jesus. He was convinced of his innocence, and did not wish him put +to death. But there is a weak spot in Pilate’s nature, and John points it +out with infallible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> precision. Pilate is not the man to stand for the +right at personal sacrifice. When his own interests are at stake, he will +permit injustice and cruel wrong to others. Why does he deliver Jesus to +the cross? John is determined that all the world shall know. “The Jews +cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend; +whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Cæsar.” My lord Pilate +is not proof against this insinuation. He can not face the possibility of +losing his office. “<i>When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought +Jesus forth.</i> * * * Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be +crucified.” John has stamped Pilate as a weak, vacillating and selfish +ruler; and his portrait, marked with these features, has been transmitted +to all ages.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>Paul and his Detractors.</i></p> + +<p>Perhaps none of the great characters of New Testament times were so beset +by foes of all kinds as was Paul. He has himself assured us that he was +often in perils from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> his own countrymen, and in perils from false +brethren. He was denounced by priests and scribes, and opposed by upstarts +in the very churches he had founded. In replying to arguments and meeting +objections he sometimes showed his mastery of more than one form of +wit,—although the form he most frequently used was irony.</p> + +<p>By many his preaching was characterized as “foolishness.” There was +nothing in it to commend it to the Jews who “required a sign,” or to the +Greeks, “who sought after wisdom.” “Very well,” is his reply, “foolish it +may be, but after all it has accomplished more than either Jew or Greek +has been able to do for the world. ‘Where is the wise? Where is the +scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the +wisdom of this world?’ What has it achieved? Where are its monuments? ‘For +after that the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the +foolishness of (just such) preaching (as mine) to save them that believe.’ +This foolishness has lifted men from vile and sinful lives into +righteousness and honor. Have your own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> way about it, O Greeks and Jews; I +will be accounted a fool if you will, and am willing to let my words be +stigmatized as folly; but you will find that ‘God hath chosen the foolish +things of the world to confound the wise; God hath chosen the weak things +of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and base things of +the world, and things that are despised hath God chosen; yea, and things +that are not, to bring to nought things that are.’ I accept the low +estimate you put upon me and my work, but I triumph over you and your +work, however exalted. Results shall determine. This is glorious folly!”</p> + +<p>In writing to the Corinthians, he says of certain members of the church +who thought that in spiritual things they were superior to himself, “Now +some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to +you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, <i>not the speech of them +which are puffed up, but the power</i>.”</p> + +<p>To those thus puffed up, he addresses himself in the following ironical +strain: “Now ye are full, now ye are rich; ye have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> reigned as kings +without us; and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with +you. For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last. * * * We are +fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye +are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised.”</p> + +<p>He denounces certain teachers who were sowing the seeds of discord among +his churches, as “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming +themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is +transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his +ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end +shall be according to their works.” Such teachers as these pronounced Paul +a fool and did everything to bring his work into contempt. “Very good,” +says Paul to the Corinthians, “receive me then as a fool,” and then +proceeding, with his favorite irony, “For ye suffer fools gladly, <i>seeing +ye yourselves are wise</i>!”</p> + +<p>How scathing is his rebuke to those who misrepresented his doctrine: “We +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, Let us do evil +that good may come!—whose condemnation is just.” This is his only answer +to evil tongues.</p> + +<p>It is conceded by the best authorities that Paul did not write the Epistle +to the Hebrews, but there is a passage in that letter not unlike him,—the +rebuke to those who ought to be strong, manly and intelligent Christians, +but who have not yet gotten out of their swaddling clothes: “For when for +the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again +which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such +as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk +is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is but a babe. But +<i>strong meat belongeth to those that are of full age</i>, even those who by +reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”</p> + +<p>Similar to this is Paul’s treatment of the Corinthians when they were +divided in their allegiance, some claiming to belong to one teacher and +some to another. First Paul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> himself had been there and taught among them +in that broad and liberal spirit which always characterized him. He made +very little of forms and ceremonies, and very much of charity and +brotherhood. Then came Peter who was always more narrow than Paul, but +very intense. Paul was a broad river, Peter a mountain torrent. Peter +never completely freed himself from the bondage of the Jewish system, and +he insisted upon some of the things that Paul discarded. Soon a party was +formed. Some thought, no doubt, that Paul was too far away from the Jewish +creed, that he was not strict enough, that it was perhaps safer to take +Peter as a guide; so while some said, “I am of Paul,” others said, “I am +of Cephas.” Then came Apollos who is described as being “very eloquent.” +When he stood up to speak, many said, “He beats both Paul and Peter; I am +of Apollos.” So there were “envyings and strifes and divisions.” Paul +ridicules the Corinthians for these childish quarrels, and says that he +must still speak to them as to “babes.” “I have fed you with milk and not +with meat; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> hitherto ye were not able to bear it, <i>neither yet now are +ye able</i>!”</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><i>Examples from other Apostles.</i></p> + +<p>The epistle of James that has furnished illustrations for some of the +preceding chapters, shall yield one for this, in its notice of a grave +abuse that existed in the early churches, and that has not entirely died +out of modern churches.</p> + +<p>“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of +glory, in respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly, a man +with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in +vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, +and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place (Take this high-priced and +fashionable pew, where you can listen to the gospel in luxurious ease, and +at the same time dazzle the eyes of those in neighboring pews with the +latest fashions), but say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under +my foot-stool (or go up in the gallery), are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> ye not then partial in +yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”</p> + +<p>Peter silences certain ones who complained of persecution, by saying, “If +ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye (that is nothing to +complain of), but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or +as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men’s matters (if any one of +you suffers in such a character, he deserves the lash).” In either case, +there is nothing to justify your outcry.</p> + +<p>He also denounces certain ones who have forsaken the right way and gone +astray as “wells without water, clouds without rain that are carried of a +tempest.” They “speak great swelling words of vanity, promising liberty +while they are themselves the slaves of corruption.” And then he fastens +the reproach of their apostasy upon them with what Falstaff would call a +“most unsavory simile,”—“It is happened to them according to the true +proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was +washed to her wallowing in the mire.” Such are those who turn back to +error from the paths of truth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>In much the same strain does Jude write to the same class: “These are +spots in your feasts of charity; clouds without water, carried about of +the winds; trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked +up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; +wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever!”</p> + +<p>John wrote to the Laodiceans: “I know thy works that thou art neither cold +nor hot; so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I +will spew thee out of my mouth. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with +goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched +and miserable and poor and blind and naked!”</p> + +<p>The Laodiceans needed the familiar prayer of Burns:</p> + +<p class="poem">“O wad some power the giftie gie us,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To see oursel’s as ithers see us;</span><br /> +It would frae mony a blunder free us,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And foolish notion!”</span></p> + +<p>They needed a look into the glass of Lao, which revealed the blemishes of +the soul, how fair soever the exterior.</p> + + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><i>Christ’s Use of Invective.</i></p> + +<p>Even more severe than his apostles in his use of denunciation, was the +Great Master himself. In his controversies with the recognized religious +leaders of his day, he heaped coals of fire upon their claims and +teachings and practices.</p> + +<p>“Ye leave the commandment of God and hold fast to the tradition of men,” +he says to the Scribes and Pharisees; and then adds, with terrible irony, +“Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your +tradition.” Surely, when the commandments of God were placed side by side +with rabbinical glosses, they were in an extremely cruel position!</p> + +<p>No passage of invective, in any literature, is more crushing than this: +“Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the +kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither +suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> sea and land to make one proselyte, +and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than +yourselves. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye +devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye +shall receive the greater damnation. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and +platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Blind +Pharisees! cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that +the outside of them may be clean also! Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers which, +indeed, appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men’s bones +and all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, +but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. * * * Woe unto you, +Scribes and Pharisees, for ye are as graves which appear not, and men walk +over them and are not aware of them.”</p> + +<p>But not only the leaders, but the people also, fall under his lash. “The +men of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall +condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold a +greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the South shall rise up in the +judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the +uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a +greater than Solomon is here! When the unclean spirit is gone out of a +man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he +saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is +come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh +with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in +and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. +Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation!”</p> + +<p>Upon another occasion, he upbraided the cities in which he had wrought and +preached. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee Bethsaida; for if the +mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> been done in +you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes. +But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for +you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust +down to hell!”</p> + +<p>Does it seem strange that such language should have come from the lips of +Jesus? Should we not rather have expected it from the stern Baptist, his +forerunner, who denounced the “brood of vipers” that came to his baptism? +Is it inconsistent with that spirit of love which we believe to have been +the distinguishing characteristic of Christ? But love is not mere +invertebral amiability or moon-faced complacency. By as much as love is +strong and true, by so much does it seek, at any cost and by any means, to +remove the faults and follies of its object. If the lash be needed, the +lash it will take. “He who has never experienced the affectionate +bitterness of love,” says F. W. Robertson, “who has never known how +<i>earnest</i> irony and passionate sarcasm may be the very language of love in +its deepest, saddest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> moods is utterly incapable of even judging this +passion!”</p> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<p>Here the writer’s task ends. The subject may be capable of much more +elaborate treatment; it would be claiming too much to suppose that these +chapters exhaust it. The writer trusts, however, that he may have +suggested a line of study to others, as it was first suggested to him. The +poetry, the dramatic portions, the oratory of the Scriptures, are +unsurpassed. Viewed simply as a literary work, the Bible is the most +interesting in the whole realm of letters. It becomes increasingly +interesting, as its great human elements are recognized. Over history, +biography, and most serious discourse, play the soft gleams of healthful +humor and the lightning-like bolts of sarcasm and wit. The book touches +human nature at all points. The more we view it as “literature,” the less +as “dogma,” the firmer will become its hold upon the heart of man.</p> + +<p>That these fragmentary studies may help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> some one to appreciate his Bible +better and enjoy it more, is the writer’s wish. He may also express, in +closing, the hope that whoever has taken the trouble to read these pages +may have found them free from that which he disclaimed at the +outset—irreverence; as he believes them to be free from the other +extreme, superstition.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + +***** This file should be named 39546-h.htm or 39546-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/5/4/39546/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/39546-h/images/cover.jpg b/39546-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ec66fc --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/39546-h/images/title.jpg b/39546-h/images/title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d355fa --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-h/images/title.jpg diff --git a/39546-h/images/title_deco.jpg b/39546-h/images/title_deco.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5557ce0 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546-h/images/title_deco.jpg diff --git a/39546.txt b/39546.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0aad833 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4079 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Wit and Humor of the Bible + A Literary Study + +Author: Marion D. Shutter + +Release Date: April 27, 2012 [EBook #39546] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + + WIT AND HUMOR + OF THE + BIBLE. + + A LITERARY STUDY. + + + BY + REV. MARION D. SHUTTER, D. D. + + + "Bibles laid open; millions of surprises."--_Herbert._ + + + BOSTON, MASS., + Arena Publishing Company, + COPLEY SQUARE. + 1893. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1892, + BY + MARION D. SHUTTER. + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + + Dedication. + + TO MY WIFE, + MARY WILKINSON SHUTTER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +While "many have taken in hand to set forth in order" the pathos and +sublimity of the Bible, those literary elements comprised under the title +of this book have rarely been mentioned. Feeling that here was a field +untraversed, the author of this little volume began an investigation whose +results were originally embodied in an article published some years ago in +an Eastern review. That article is given in "Poole's Index" as the only +one extant upon the subject. Since its publication, additional study has +brought to light other examples of the use of Wit and Humor by the writers +of the Bible. These later results were embodied in a course of lectures +delivered last winter before the students of Lombard University, +Galesburg, Ill. They are now given to the public in the present volume. It +would be presumptuous to claim that these few pages exhaust the subject. +Such a claim the author does not wish to make. Further research would no +doubt bring to light instances that have escaped him. It is hoped, +however, that these studies may be sufficiently complete to awaken +interest in a long-neglected side of our sacred literature. + +MARION D. SHUTTER. + + Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 24, 1892. + First Universalist Church. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +"There is still one question before us. If humor be what we have claimed +for it, not a mere farce, but the depicting of the whole of human life, +then we should expect that the highest literature should be found to +contain it. We should expect to find it everywhere; that it should satisfy +all that desire which a reading in theology, or philosophy, or science, or +history, or a study in art, has created in man. Are there, then, any great +books, or still more any great forces in human life which seem devoid of +it? Is there any humor in the gospels? This is a dilemma that must be +faced; for if humor be life itself, how can human life in its highest +development dispense with it?"--_Shorthouse._ + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + "Even St. Paul could invent and enjoy a humorous pun; the proof of + which see Galatians V:12, in the original; so there is high authority + for jesting."--_Kirke._ + + +The title of this book will no doubt affect many persons unpleasantly at +first. "Flat blasphemy!" I can hear some one exclaim, "We have already had +the authority of the Bible undermined by critics, and here is a flippant +rogue who goes still farther, and assures us that it is nothing more than +a jest-book! This is the very climax and culmination of godless folly." + +The author makes haste, therefore, to disclaim any intention of +irreverence. To cheapen or degrade sacred things, to "depreciate the moral +currency," is at the farthest remove from his intention. It is easy enough +to take the language of Scripture and use it for coarse and vulgar +purposes, and such use deserves the severest censure. It is not to be +tolerated. Passages that have been light and guidance to multitudes, that +have brought strength to the tempted, certainty to the doubting and +consolation to the bereaved; that have been bread of life to those who +have hungered for righteousness, inspiration to the purposeless and help +to the needy,--have been turned into sources of merriment to freshen +exhausted wit, and season the insipid discourse of stupidity. Persons +whose brains are barren of pleasant conceits find no difficulty in so +perverting a Scriptural expression as to make the "groundlings" laugh. In +no such motives has this volume originated. The title has been chosen and +the work which it covers has been done in the spirit of one who loves the +Great Book, and who would secure for it an additional claim upon human +affection. The studies of the writer have led him into fresh fields and +pastures green, where he has gathered many things out of the ordinary that +have given the Bible a larger place in his own heart. + +No; the Bible is not a collection of jests; nor do we characterize it as a +jest-book when we say that it contains Wit and Humor. These elements are +in the Bible, and with good reason. They are not introduced to amuse. They +are not intended to dissipate the weariness of an idle hour. They are not +designed to produce convulsions of laughter. They are subsidiary to the +main theme. They are incidental to the development of religious history +and religious thought. They help reveal in their true light the characters +who from time to time appear; they show the absurdity of the opposing +error and sharpen the arrows with which folly is transfixed. They enhance +in many ways the value and power of our Sacred Book. + + +I. + +The Scripture documents may be viewed from several +standpoints;--historical, exegetical, theological and literary. One may, +for example, study the book of Job to find out the actual basis of fact +that underlies it, or for the purpose of ascertaining and systematizing +its doctrines, or he may read it as a great dramatic poem, and criticize +it by the rules that would apply to any other dramatic poem. He may go +through the Apocalypse, grammar and lexicon in hand, or he may study its +flashing imagery as he would that of any other magnificent work of genius. +He may read the Psalms as he would the odes of Horace. In these pages the +Scriptures are considered simply as Literature. The question of +inspiration or authority does not enter. Doctrinal inquiries are set +aside. "To understand," says Matthew Arnold, "that the language of the +Bible is fluid, passing, literary, is the first step towards a right +understanding of the Bible." + +The literary character of the Bible is admirably set forth in the +following paragraph from a recent critic: + + "As a particular book, the Bible is an unequaled source of literary + inspiration. As a book of religious truth, it is supreme; but + religious truth, without any impairment of its value or obscurity of + its meaning, may be studied from the literary standpoint; in fact, in + the light of literary criticism, or tested by the usual canons of the + scholar, it will appear more sacred, more beautiful, more divine. + Never forgetting that it is our manual of religion, it is also the + vehicle of the most wonderful literature in human annals, and precedes + in importance all others. There is no book so composite in character + and yet so harmonious in plan, so multiplex in styles and yet so + educational in rhetoric and logic, so varied in contents and yet so + progressive in its philosophy and religion, as the Bible. Taken as a + whole, it is massive, comprehensive, a revelation of the Infinite. + Studied in its parts, it stimulates single faculties while it + ministers nourishment to the whole frame. Its histories are more + compact than those of Herodotus, Gibbon or Macaulay; its poetry, whose + key is a mystery, quiets Homer, Shakespeare and Tennyson; its + prophecies are unique climaxes of wisdom, both in drapery and + substance; its biographies excel those of Plutarch, Irving, Carlyle + and Boswell; its chronicles of wars are superior to those of Julius + Caesar, Wellington, Napoleon, and Ulysses Grant; its epistles eclipse + those of Pliny, Madame Sevigne and Francis Bacon; its laws, in their + ethical and spiritual import, are quite beyond Justinian, Blackstone + and the English Parliament. Every phasis of literature, every norm of + wisdom, is in the Bible. It ministers to all tastes and arouses the + slumbering intellects of all who can comprehend the difference between + reality and fiction, and who incline to virtue rather than vice. + Ruskin confesses his indebtedness to the Bible, Homer and Sir Walter + Scott, for his mental discipline; Charles Reade pronounces the + characters in Scripture a literary marvel. Matthew Arnold daily read + the New Testament in Greek for its style; Milton could not have + written Paradise Lost without Genesis; Renan's witchery of style is + traceable to the New Testament. Job has taught the poets the art of + construction, and David has sung an undying melody into the ears of + the race. The Book of Ruth is the model idyl, and the Books of Esther + and Daniel abound in incomparable dramatic elements; Isaiah has plumed + the statesman for oratorical flights; Jeremiah has opened the + fountains of pathos and sentiment in pathetic souls; Ezekiel has + furnished a usable style of judicial denunciation for the criminal + lawyer. Of all books, whether rhetoric, logic, vocabulary, poetry, + philosophy, history, or whatever be the end, the Bible should be first + and most carefully studied, its literary spirit and form should be + closely traced and discerned, and its truth should be reverently + incorporated into the daily speech, thought and life." + +But in this summary there is no mention made of the literary qualities +which it is here proposed to consider. They are as completely ignored as +if the very suggestion of their presence were profanation. + + +II. + +The presumption is that in such a book, or rather collection of books as +the Bible, the elements of Wit and Humor would be found. We have here the +best historical, poetical, and moral works of a whole people. These +documents cover in time more than a millennium and a half. It is more than +probable that during that time amusing incidents occurred, even in +connection with the religious trend of the history, some of which would be +reported; that grotesque and odd characters existed, some of whom would be +described, and their sayings and doings noted; that among the moral +teachers of the people, there were some at least, who would point their +precepts with wit and edge their rebukes with sarcasm. We should expect to +find all these things, as we should expect to find pathos or sublimity. +The humorous is just as legitimate in literature and quite as much an +element of influence. It glows in all the other great books which have +shaped the life and thought of mankind; and it is only fair to presume +that we shall find its light shining from those pages that have been most +potent of all. + +But is not "the volume of this book" a serious one? Is it not profoundly +in earnest? Are not its themes most solemn? Is not its purpose the highest +under heaven, the most important to the inhabitants of earth? The +conclusion, however, that the questioner has in mind is by no means +inevitable. It is a mistake to suppose that humor is incompatible with +seriousness, earnestness and solemnity. "As in one of my lectures," says +Henry Reed, "I spoke of attempting to draw too precise a line around +sacred literature, making it too much a thing apart, so in regard to the +literature of wit and humor. I shall be very sorry, if such a title as +that which I have been obliged to use, led any one to think of it as of a +more distinctive existence than is the case, instead of regarding those +faculties as pervading the literature in various degrees, and thus forming +some of the elements of its life. I shall have occasion to trace these +elements in close connection with elements of tragedy, and to show how the +processes we generalize under the names of wit and humor are kindred with +the most intense passion and the deepest feeling." + +In human nature, the sources of laughter and tears lie close together, and +the highest literature must express that nature in its entirety. "It is +an understood fact," says Whipple, "that mirth is as innate in the mind as +any other original faculty. The absence of it in individuals or +communities is a defect." "He who laughs," says the mother of Goethe, "can +commit no deadly sin." If it be true as Whipple says, that the absence of +mirth in individuals or communities is a defect, then is the absence of it +in literature likewise a defect. It is a defect because the literature +which omits it fails to set forth all that there is in man. It leaves an +important territory unexplored. + +On the other hand, the literature which is designed to move and mold men +must be addressed to human nature in its completeness. Freighted with +destiny, charged with eternity as are the messages of the Bible, they are +yet intended to impress men; they are addressed to human faculties in +human speech. Whatever the capacities of language for touching the heart +and operating upon the will, they may all be employed, though the theme +soar to heaven or take hold on hell. The Bible is not an instrument of a +single string; it gives forth a thousand harmonies. It is attuned to every +note in human nature. + + +III. + +Thus far we have simply dealt with the presumption. The considerations +advanced show us what we might expect to find. When we proceed from +presumption to actual investigation, our conjectures are verified. There +are certainly passages in the Bible which in any other writings we should +call Wit and Humor. Since this is the case, our discussion is legitimate, +however repugnant the very suggestion may be to the feelings with which we +are accustomed to regard the Bible. + +Let us take some examples. If we found in any other book such a saying as +this, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a +stinking savor, so doth a little folly him that is in great reputation for +wisdom and honor," should we not call it witty? Is it not witty as the +Russian proverb "A spoonful of tar in a barrel of honey?" + +Or consider such sentences as the following: "All the labor of a man is +for his mouth, and yet his appetite is not filled." "As he that taketh +away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that +singeth songs to a heavy heart." "Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but +afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel." "He that answereth a +matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." "A man of +great wrath shall suffer punishment; for if thou deliver him, yet must +thou do it again." In other words, a man of violent temper is always +getting into difficulties; you have no sooner helped him out of one than +he madly plunges into another. Like the irascible person in the old +nursery rhyme, who jumped into a bramble bush and scratched out both his +eyes, he is no sooner extricated, than "with all his might and main, he +jumps into another bush and puts them out again." "Can a man take fire in +his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can he go upon hot coals and his +feet not be burned?" "Wealth makes many friends, but the poor is +separated from his neighbor." "He that passeth by and meddleth with strife +belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears." If we +came upon such sentences in Johnson or Goldsmith, we should say in a +moment that they were instances of genuine wit. Let us not hesitate to +carry the same frankness of literary judgment to the Bible. When Isaiah +characterizes certain ones as "mighty to drink wine and men of strength to +mingle strong drink," does he not use essentially the same reproach that +Prince Hal fastened upon Falstaff, "Wherein is he good but to taste sack +and drink it?" Who shall say that the earlier satire did not suggest the +later? Much has been written about Shakespeare's indebtedness to the +Bible. + +Here is a passage of biting sarcasm from Job. We should surely call it +sarcasm if we found it in the pages of Robert South. Job is expressing his +scorn for those who affect to look down upon him in his adversities: "But +now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I +would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock." They are "the +children of fools, yea, children of base men; they were viler than the +earth." (We have an equivalent expression in "meaner than dirt.") They are +members of the long-eared fraternity. He does not say so in the bluntest +form of expression that can be used, and that any one less skillful would +have used. Job puts it much more effectively: "Among the bushes they +_brayed_; under the _nettles_ they were gathered together." "If that is +not wit," says one, "there is no such thing as wit. And yet the +commentators do not see it, or will not see it. They are perfectly wooden +when they come to any such gleam of humor." + +There is a bit of ridicule in Jeremiah that we should be quick to call +ridicule, if we came upon it elsewhere. He is describing the disasters +that fell upon the allies of the King of Egypt. "Why are the strong ones +swept away? They stood not because the Lord did thrust them down. He made +them to stumble, yea they fell one upon another; and they said, Arise, and +let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from +the oppressing sword." They are defeated in spite of all the promises of +the King of Egypt. He does not seem to avail them. His boasts are +ineffectual. His disgusted allies depart, flinging at him the withering +reproach, "_Pharoah, King of Egypt, is but a noise_; he hath let the +appointed time pass by." That is to say, according to one paraphrase, +"Pharoah is of no account now, he has had his chance and lost it; he has +outlived his influence; his day is over; he is not a sovereign any longer; +he is only a noise." Or as Matthew Henry puts it, "Pharoah can hector and +talk big; but that is all; all his promises vanish into smoke." In the +same spirit, Queen Catherine says of the dead Wolsey, + + "His promise was as he then was, mighty; + But his performance, as he now is, nothing." + +If we found a little sketch like the following in Thackeray, we should, +beyond doubt, pronounce it humorous: "All the brethren of the poor do hate +him; how much more do his friends go far from him. He pursueth them with +words, yet are they wanting to him." The words of a poor man can not +travel fast enough to overtake his rich friends and neighbors. Indeed, +Thackeray has drawn such a picture in his more elaborate description of +Harry Warrington in the sponging-house, making vain appeals for help to +his rich relatives and friends. "He pursued them with words, yet were they +wanting to him." His aunt,--"a member of the great and always established +Church of the Pharisees, sent him her blessing,--and a tract!" + +If we found, in any modern literature, a sketch of the ruling deacon in a +church, like John's description of Diotrephus, we should say it was tinged +with satire. "I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephus, _who loveth to have +the pre-eminence among them_, receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I +will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious +words; and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the +brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, _and casteth them out of the +Church_." Evidently there was a deacon in one of the apostolic churches, +who always had to be consulted. Everything must go as he dictated. He did +not even stand in awe of an accredited apostle. The minister must preach +according to his views of theology, or signify his willingness to accept a +call to a new field. Those members of the church who upheld a minister +whom Diotrephus did not like, found their connection with the body severed +without the formality of asking their consent. In the matter of having a +Diotrephus within their borders, some churches to-day find themselves in +the direct line of apostolic succession. + +In the book of Acts, there is an account of Paul's reception at Athens. +"And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know +what this new doctrine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou bringest +certain strange things to our ears; we would know, therefore, what these +things mean." In the comment which follows this account, the writer +indulges in a touch of ridicule upon the Athenian gossips and curiosity +mongers. We should say it was a touch of ridicule if we found it in +Addison. "For all the Athenians and strangers which were there, _spent +their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new +thing_." Indeed there is a sketch in Addison of which this might easily +have been the ground-work. "There is no humor of my countrymen which I am +more inclined to wonder at than _their general thirst after news_. A +victory or defeat is equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a +cardinal's mouth pleaseth them one post, and the opening of it another. +They are delighted to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are +afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the +advertisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public news; and +are as pleased to hear of a pye-bald horse that is strayed out of a field +near Islington, as of a whole troop that has been engaged in any foreign +adventure. In short, _they have a relish for anything that is news_, let +the matter of it be what it will. _They are men of a voracious appetite._" +Is not the comment of the Scriptural writer upon the Athenians in the +same vein with Addison's comment upon the English? + +Isaiah rebukes those "who call evil good and good evil; who put darkness +for light and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for +bitter,"--thus confusing moral distinctions. This is the same sort of +sophistry that Addison exposes, in his gentle way, by proposing the +following form of agreement: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed, do +solemnly declare that we do in our consciences believe that two and two +make four; and that we shall adjudge any man whatever to be our enemy who +endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We are likewise ready to +maintain, with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is +less than seven in all times and at all places; and that ten will not be +more three years hence than it is at present. We do also firmly declare +that it is our resolution as long as we live to call Black black and White +white. _And we shall upon all occasions oppose such persons that upon any +day of the year shall call Black white or White black, with the utmost of +our lives and fortunes._" The rebuke, in both cases, is the same. + + +IV. + +What do these illustrations show? "That the Bible is, on the whole, a +humorous book? Far from it. That religion is a humorous subject? that we +are to throw all the wit we can into the treatment of it? No. But they +show that the sense of the ludicrous is put into man by his Maker; that it +has its uses; that we are not to be ashamed of it;" that we are not to be +horrified at the mention of it in connection with things we deem most +sacred. They show that the literature of the Bible contains the same +elements that in any other literature we call Wit and Humor. They show us, +also, that wit and humor do not of necessity produce hearty laughter or +boisterous mirth; not always do they manifest themselves in "gibes and +gambols and flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar." Those, +therefore, who may expect something in these chapters that will shake +one's sides with jollity, or make him "laugh till his face be like a wet +cloak ill laid up," will doubtless be disappointed. Wit and humor often +lie too deep for laughter, as pathos often lies too deep for tears. + +No attempt is here made at exact definition of the two words that are +prominent in the general title of this book. Perhaps after they have +passed through their final analysis we shall not be any wiser than before +we cast them into the alembic. Barrow says of Humor: "It is a thing so +versatile and multiform that it seems no less hard to settle a clear and +certain notion thereof, than to make a portrait of Proteus or to define +the figure of the fleeting air." We usually include under the general term +all forms of pleasantry, grotesqueness, drollery, sarcasm, irony, +ridicule. Our common acceptation shall serve us in these studies. + +"There are many things," says Prof. Matthews, "that definition helps us to +understand, but there are other things that we understand better than we +can any possible definition of them; among these are the cold, sparkling, +mercurial thing we call wit, and that genial, juicy, unconscious thing we +call humor." + +With these preliminary observations, we proceed to examine the subject in +detail: + + "Are there not two points in the adventure of the diver? + One when a beggar he prepares to plunge; + The other when a prince he rises with his pearl? + Festus, I plunge." + + + + +II. CHARACTER SKETCHES. + + + "----Now, by two-headed Janus, + Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time; + Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, + And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper; + And other of such vinegar aspect, + That they'll not show their teeth by way of smile, + Tho' Nestor swore the jest were laughable."-- + _Merchant of Venice._ + + + + +CHARACTER SKETCHES. + + "With what prudence does the Son of Sirach caution us in the choice of + our friends. And with what strokes of Nature, (I could almost say of + Humour,) has he described the behavior of a treacherous and + self-interested friend!"--_Addison._ + + +"The history of the ancient Hebrews," says George Eliot, "gives the idea +of a people who went about their business and their pleasures as gravely +as a society of beavers; the smile and laugh are often mentioned +metaphorically; but the smile is one of complacency, the laugh of scorn." + +Against the authority of so illustrious a name, the writer of these pages +confesses a somewhat different impression. It is difficult to believe that +such sentiments as the following could have arisen among a people whose +only smile was that of complacency, whose only laughter that of scorn: + +"He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." + +"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance." + +"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." + +"Go thy way; eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry +heart." + +"The voice of mirth," "the voice of gladness" are phrases of frequent +occurrence. The ancient Hebrews believed that there was a "time to laugh" +as well as a "time to weep." Grave and serious as they were, there must +have been in them, after all, something sunny and pleasant. They did not +find the heavens forever black and the earth forever cheerless. + +When we turn to the historical and biographical portions of Scripture, we +find here and there a bit of quaintness and drollery in pictures of life +and delineations of character that must have brought to the faces of those +who read them or heard them smiles other than those of complacency; that +must have been enjoyed with laughter other than that of scorn. + +Mr. Shorthouse says, "Nature and humor do not lie far apart; the source +and spring of humor is human life." "The essence of humor," Carlyle +remarks, "is sensibility; warm, tender fellow-feeling with all forms of +existence." "The man of humor," writes another distinguished critic, +"seeing at one glance the majestic and the mean, the serious and the +laughable; indeed, interpreting what is little or ridiculous by light +derived from its opposite idea, delineates character as he finds it in +life, without any impertinent intrusion of his own indignation or +approval." + +The writers of the Bible sketched manners and traits as they found them. +Their pencils were faithful to nature. They reported what they saw. The +features which provoke the smile, as well as those which move us to +admire, condemn or weep, are pictured on their canvas. They had an eye for +the ludicrous side of life, as well as for its more sober aspects. So, +genial is much of their--often unconscious--humor, so far removed from +bitterness or scorn, that it should seem as if Addison and Irving might +have drawn some of their inspiration from these old Hebrews. + +In this chapter we shall give some illustrations from their sketches of +character. + + +I.--ABIMELECH. + +In the time of the Judges the unprincipled Abimelech contrived to have +himself proclaimed king in Shechem. Knowing his unfitness for the throne, +and vexed at his successful machinations, Jotham, a man of ready wit, +ridicules the pretensions of the monarch and the folly of the people, in +an admirable fable. Addison says: "Fables were the first pieces of wit +that made their appearance in the world, and have been still highly +valued, not only in times of the greatest simplicity, but among the most +polite ages of mankind. Jotham's fable of the Trees is the oldest that is +extant, and as beautiful as any that have been made since that time." + +Perching himself upon the top of a hill, that his parable may not be +brought to an untimely end, he speaks to the multitude: "The Trees went +forth on a time to anoint a king over them. And they said to the Olive +Tree, Reign thou over us. But the Olive Tree said unto them, Should I +leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor God and men, and go to be +promoted over the Trees? Then said the Trees unto the Fig Tree, Come thou +and reign over us. But the Fig Tree said unto them, Should I forsake my +sweetness and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the Trees? Then +said the Trees unto the Vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the Vine +said unto them, Should I leave my wine which cheereth God and Man, and go +to be promoted over the Trees?" Thus far the Trees have been unsuccessful. +They have found among their fellows of the forest no available candidate +whose character and record are good. They anticipated a difficulty of more +modern times. But they are becoming desperate. They are determined to have +a king. In this extremity what step do they take? "Then said all the Trees +unto the _Bramble_, Come thou and reign over us." The Bramble cannot plead +business. It cannot say, as do the Olive and Fig and Vine, "I am of some +better use." There is no reason, so far as any beneficent occupation is +concerned, why it should not be king. The offer is eagerly accepted, and +the pompous bush delivers itself of this high and mighty coronation +address: "If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your +trust in my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the Bramble and +destroy the cedars of Lebanon!" + +This Bramble, Jotham explains, represents Abimelech, while the misguided +trees are the men of Shechem. Having made this application, Jotham became +convinced that his mission was ended, and abandoned Mount Gerezim for a +place of greater security. "And Jotham ran away and fled, and went to Beer +and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother." He did not wait to see +what impression he had made. He was willing to let his story, moral and +all, take care of itself; for in that day, as in every subsequent age, +there was no room for a satirist in the kingdom of an incompetent ruler. + + +II.--SAMSON. + +Farther on in the book of Judges, we have the portrait of Samson. How +quaintly is the character drawn! A great lubberly, good-natured giant, but +now and then bursting out into fits of unreasoning and uncontrolled +anger,--not unlike Ajax in the play. He is constantly making himself +ridiculous in his love affairs. + +In _Love's Labor Lost_, the following dialogue occurs:-- + + "ARMADO.--Comfort me, boy. What great men have been in love? + + "MOTH.--Hercules, Master. + + "ARM.--Most sweet Hercules! More authority dear boy, name more; and + sweet my child, let them be men of good repute and carriage. + + "MOTH.--Samson, Master; he was a man of good carriage, for he raised + the town gates on his back like a porter; and he was in love." + +He tries to joke in clumsy riddles: "Out of the eater came forth meat, out +of the strong came forth sweetness." But his jokes were usually of a more +practical and even more disastrous kind. L'Estrange, in his _History of +Humor_, says: "The first character in the records of antiquity that seems +to have had anything quaint or droll about it is that of Samson. Standing +out amid the confusion of legendary times, he gives us good specimens of +the fierce, wild kind of merriment relished in ancient days; and was very +fond of making very sanguinary sport for the Philistines. He was an +exaggeration of a not very uncommon type of man in which brute strength is +joined to loose morals and whimsical fancy. People were more inclined to +laugh at sufferings formerly than now, because they were not keenly +sensitive to pain, and also had less feeling and consideration for others. +That Samson found some malicious kind of pleasure and diversion in his +reprisals on his enemies and made his misfortunes minister to his +amusement, is evident from the strange character of his exploits. 'He +caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, +and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails, and when he had set +the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the +Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and also the standing corn of +the Philistines, with the vineyards and olives.' On another occasion, he +allowed himself to be bound with cords and thus apparently delivered +powerless into the hands of his enemies; he then broke his bonds 'like +flax that was burnt with fire,' and taking the jawbone of an ass which he +found, slew a thousand men with it. His account of this massacre shows +that he regarded it in a humorous light: 'With the jawbone of an ass, +heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of an ass, I have slain a thousand +men.' We might also refer to his carrying away the gates of Gaza to the +top of a hill that is before Hebron, and to his duping Delilah about the +seven green withes. * * * Samson was evidently regarded as a droll fellow +in his day." + +What a touch of human nature there is in the scene between Samson and his +wife, when she asks for the solution of that wretched riddle! "Thou dost +but hate me," is her reproach, "and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a +riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it to me." What! +is there a domestic storm already brewing? There is something of a +thunderclap in the angry retort of the husband: "Behold, I have not told +it to my father and my mother," (as if that would make any difference to +her!) "and shall I tell it to thee?" Comparisons of this sort are but +little noted for their conciliatory tendencies, and so we are fully +prepared for what follows: "_And she wept before him_ the seven days while +the feast lasted." Poor Samson is not proof against woman's tears. He +could rend the lion as a kid, and carry off the gates of Gaza as easily as +a shepherd could bear a lamb upon his shoulders, but his superhuman +strength is of no avail against "women's weapons, water-drops." We are not +surprised to find that "it came to pass on the seventh day _he told her_." +Thus did conjugal quarrels end in the time of the Judges. + +But if Samson was worsted in the encounter with his wife, he scored a +victory against the Philistines who had frightened her into telling them +the answer to the riddle. When they came with an air of insolent triumph +and said: "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?" +he rather impolitely retorted,--traces of gall and wormwood at his recent +humiliation by his wife still rankling in his mind,--"If ye had not +ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle." But he paid the +debt of honor he owed them, the wager he had lost. "He went down to +Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil and gave +changes of raiment unto them which expounded the riddle." Thersites would +have said of him as he did of Achilles, "His wit was his sinew." Samson +had wonderful muscular power of repartee. + +On another occasion Samson amused himself by telling monstrous lies about +the secret of his strength: "If they bind me with seven green withes that +were never dried, then shall I be weak and be as another man;" "if they +bind me fast with new ropes;" "if thou weavest the seven locks of my head +with the web;" and so on. As Prince Hal said of the stories of his boon +companion, "These lies are like the father that begets them; gross as a +mountain, open, palpable." Delilah, wearied with these practical jokes, +exclaims at last, "How canst thou say 'I love thee,' when thine heart is +not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me +wherein thy great strength lieth." Then she began a course of teasing and +entreaty that finally proved successful. "It came to pass when she pressed +him daily with her words, _so that his soul was vexed unto death_, that he +told her all his heart." Samson was great physically, but so weak mentally +and morally that he is continually reducing himself to an absurd +spectacle. He could not resist Delilah's persistent importunities, nor had +he sufficient resolution to betake himself from the presence of +temptation. He had, no doubt, laughed loud and long at the victims of his +huge falsehoods, but he is finally harassed by a woman whose reproaches +and entreaties are like "a continual dropping on a rainy day," into +telling the fatal truth. Upon the whole, as we look upon the portrait of +Samson, we find it impossible to respect him. We can only smile at his +folly. The one flash of genuine nobility comes at the last. "Nothing in +his life became him like the leaving it." After all, that heroic death +more than half redeems the vacillating career it closes. + + +III.--NABAL. + +There is quite a different character in the first book of Samuel. His name +is Nabal. The word itself means "fool;" and the man's wife, Abigail, +volunteered the opinion that it was a very accurate description of her +husband: "_As his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name and folly is with +him_." He is self-satisfied, hard-headed, irritable, obstinate. We are +told that he was "churlish and evil in his doings." He is blunt in speech, +rude, and even boorish in manners. He stands out of the story like an old, +gnarled tree. It would not be a matter of marvel if he suggested to +Fielding the character of Squire Western. They have many points in common. +The servants of Nabal are afraid of him: "He is such a son of Belial that +a man cannot speak to him!" He is fond of wine, and sometimes falls +asleep over his cups. When David asks a favor of him, he exclaims: "Who is +David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that +break away, every man from his own master!" As much as to say, "The +country is full of runaways and tramps, and how do I know but this David +is one of them?" Then he goes on--"Shall I take my bread and my water, and +my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I +know not whence they be?" Let this David look out for himself; it is all +that I can do to provide for my own family and servants! How exactly in +the Squire Western vein: "It's well for un I could not get at un; I'd +spoiled his caterwauling; I'd a taught un to meddle with meat for his +master. He shan't ever have a morsel of meat of mine, or a varden to buy +it with!" Just the man, after he has stormed his life away, to die of +apoplexy! And Nabal _did_ die suddenly, a few days after he had been "very +drunken." + + +IV.--JONAH. + +There are some elements of genuine humor in the story of Jonah. Whatever +may be thought of the miraculous portions of the narrative, the character +of the shirking and whimpering prophet is faithfully drawn. He first tries +to escape the command of the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish, but finds that +he who runs away from duty runs into danger. Thoroughly alarmed by the +disastrous outcome of his attempt to get away from responsibility, he +finally goes to Nineveh, but is not reconciled to his task. He did not go +because he was anxious to serve the Ninevites, but because he wished to +avert further danger from himself. He is in just the mood to complain of +everything, to snatch at any straw of justification for his former +conduct. Contrary to his expectations, and even, it must be confessed, to +his secret wishes, the Ninevites were moved to repentance by his +half-hearted preaching, with its undertone of grumbling, and God forgave +them and turned away the threatened destruction of their city. But when +the forty days expire, and the city does not fall, Jonah is angry, and he +insists that he does well to be angry. He has been obliged to trudge +through the streets of the city day after day shouting his predictions of +doom, and now he is denied the poor satisfaction of seeing the bolts fall +from heaven in vengeance. He has even gone so far as to prepare for +himself a booth in a safe place, under whose shadow he might sit and enjoy +the spectacle,--"where he might see what would become of the city." And +now there is nothing to come of it all! "It displeased Jonah exceedingly +and he was very angry." Surely the Lord is not considerate of the feelings +of his prophet. Jonah's pent-up displeasure breaks forth: "I pray thee, O +Lord, was not this my saying while I was yet in mine own country?" Did I +not tell you so? Did I not say then and there how this whole affair would +turn out? "Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish." Why should I blister +under the sun of Nineveh, when I might take mine ease in Tarshish? "For I +knew that Thou art a gracious God, slow to anger and of great kindness +and repentest thee of the evil,"--too good-natured to do this thing! And +now that I have come, my prophecy has failed and my mission is a farce. +These wretches are spared and the prophet of God is a laughing-stock! "I +do well to be angry, even unto death!" He goes farther: "I beseech thee, +take away my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." +It is better to die than to be made ridiculous. Nothing could reconcile +Jonah, just then, to the thought of further existence. Like Mr. Mantilini, +he was determined to become a "body." + + +V.--ABSALOM. + +We must not pass by that exquisite likeness of the demagogue in Second +Samuel. "Absalom rose up early and stood beside the way of the gate; and +it was so that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for +judgment, then Absalom called unto him and said, Of what city art thou? +and he said, Thy servant is one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said +unto him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no one deputed +of the king to hear thee." Things are getting very loose in the +government; the country is going to the dogs. The present administration +has been so long in power, that it has grown careless of the interests of +the people. Absalom said, moreover, "O that I were made Judge in the land; +that any man which hath any suit or any cause might come unto me, and I +would do him justice!" We need a change. Put our party in power and see +whether the rights of the people will not be better regarded; see whether +there will not be reform in all departments of the government, and better +times in the nation. "And it was so that when any man came to him to do +him obeisance, he put forth his hand and took him and kissed him." Really, +here we have the origin of the hand shaking candidate of to-day. Here are +the beginnings of that cajolery of the "poor laboring man," "the honest +farmer," "the oppressed people," which the modern aspirant to office so +earnestly affects. "And in this manner did Absalom to all Israel that +came unto the King for judgment; so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of +Israel." In one point the comparison between Absalom and his later +imitators fails. Absalom, it will be remembered, closed his career by +getting hung upon a tree. It is greatly to be regretted that many of our +modern demagogues do not complete the parallel. + + +VI.--SHIMEI. + +If Absalom is a type of the demagogue, Shimei surely is a type of the +sycophant. While David was in power, Shimei was devoted. When David was +supplanted by the scheming Absalom and went forth heart-broken and weary +from the city where he had reigned, Shimei basely deserts him to become +the tool of Absalom, and heaps insults upon the head of the fallen +monarch. Here is a specimen of his conduct and language: "He cast stones +at David and at the servants of King David. * * * And thus said Shimei +when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man and thou man of +Belial: the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of +Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the +kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy +mischief because thou art a bloody man." This exhibition of meanness +rouses the just wrath of Abishai, who wishes to put an effectual stop to +the miserable proceeding: "Why should this dead dog curse my lord, the +King? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." But David +forbids, and Shimei secure in the continued possession of his head +followed after David and his men and "cursed as he went, and threw stones +at him and cast dust." But the scene changes. Absalom lies dead under a +heap of stones in the forest. David is returning to Jerusalem as king. A +boat has carried him across the Jordan. Who is this that meets him as he +lands and fawns upon him? The wretch who stoned and cursed him the other +day. It is Shimei who forsook him and pelted him when he was unfortunate, +but who returns to offer, "in a bondman's key," his humble services when +David is restored to power. "Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me, +neither do thou remember that which thy servant did, the day that my lord +the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to heart." Do +not grieve over it, do not take it too sorely. I admit that it was rather +hasty and ill-advised. "For thy servant doth know that I have sinned." To +be sure I threw some stones, and kicked up a little dust, and swore a few +oaths,--very inconsiderate it seems now; but I am willing to forget the +whole affair. And see what splendid atonement I offer! "_Behold, I am come +first this day of all the house of Joseph, to go down to meet my Lord, the +King._" Think of that! Ah, it is "my lord, the king" to-day; no longer a +"man of Belial." My lord the king can grant favors. Any little trifle of +an office for which he may want an incumbent would be considered. +Remember, "_I am come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to go +down to meet my lord the king_." + +Sterne says: "The wheel turns round once more; Absalom is cast down, and +David returns in peace. Shimei suits his behavior to the occasion, and is +the first man also who hastens to greet him; and had the wheel turned +round a hundred times, Shimei, I dare say, in every period of its rotation +would have been uppermost." Then he adds: "O Shimei, would to heaven when +thou wast slain, that all thy family had been slain with thee and not one +of thy resemblance left. But ye have multiplied exceedingly and +replenished the earth; and if I prophesy rightly, ye will in the end +subdue it. Go where you will, in every quarter, in every profession, you +see a Shimei following the wheels of the fortunate through thick mire and +clay." + +It is not claimed that the writers of the Bible drew these portraits for +the purpose of making ludicrous those whom they painted, but the features +were in the originals, and they who wrote were simply faithful to nature. +They portrayed what they saw. They did not blind themselves to facts; and +now worthless usurper, weak-willed giant, churlish country squire of +Palestine, grumbling prophet, scheming demagogue and oily sycophant live +forever on their canvas. "Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature _hath_ framed +strange fellows in her time;" and some of those "strange fellows" lived in +Judea thousands of years ago. + + + + +III. "TOUCHES OF NATURE." + + +"The ludicrous has its place in the Universe; it is not a human invention, +but one of the Divine ideas, illustrated in the practical jokes of kittens +and monkeys, long before Aristophanes or Shakespeare."--HOLMES. + + + + +"TOUCHES OF NATURE." + + + "To explain the nature of laughter and tears is to account for the + condition of human life; for it is in a manner compounded of these + two. It is tragedy or comedy, sad or merry, as it happens."--HAZLITT. + + +"One touch of nature," says Shakespeare, "makes the whole world kin;" but +the great dramatist did not define exactly what he meant by "touch of +nature," and the critics of many generations have been at war over the +question. Perhaps he could not have told us, even if he had tried,--any +more than the critics can tell us. When Democritus was asked his +definition of a man, his only reply was, "A man is that which we all see +and know." Further than this the philosopher could not proceed. But while +Shakespeare has not given us a definition, he has given us an +illustration: + + "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,-- + That all, with one consent, praise new-born gauds, + Tho' they are made and moulded of things past; + And give to dust that is a little gilt + More laud than gilt o'erdusted." + +The whole world is kin in this, that all with one consent inexcusably +forget the substantial past and praise the present folly, if that folly be +well tricked out. Humanity proves its oneness by its foibles as well as by +its virtues. "Foolery, sir, doth walk about the orb; like the sun it +shineth everywhere." Things deserving of laughter and things intended to +provoke it have always been happening; and the faculties by which men +perceive the foolish and ludicrous have always existed in human nature. + + "Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, + Nods and becks and wreathed smiles, + Sport that wrinkled care derides, + And laughter holding both his sides,"-- + +all these were in the past as well as in the present. They are "touches of +nature" that "make the whole world kin." + +The statement was made in the preceding chapter that the writers of the +Bible, especially of the historical books, drew faithfully from real life, +and sketched manners and traits as they found them. They neither smoothed +over nor concealed anything. They were absolutely frank. This fidelity to +nature made it inevitable that the writers should now and then depict the +ludicrous side of life and character, describe grotesque situations and +paint amusing scenes. These are not uproariously funny, they will not +provoke boisterous merriment, any more than will a page of Addison; but +they are none the less specimens of genuine humor. Indeed, Carlyle reminds +us that "true humor springs not more from the head than from the heart; it +issues not in laughter, but in smiles that lie far deeper." + +We may be sure that all life from the very beginning has had its humorous +no less than its serious side. If any record had been kept, we should no +doubt find that Adam and Eve had their jokes about the apples--it is +universally assumed that they _were_ apples--on that forbidden tree, and +that they were quite as good as any jokes that have been made about those +same apples in more recent years. The masons and bricklayers on the tower +of Babel no doubt poked their thumbs into each other's ribs and slapped +each other on the back to emphasize their rude jokes about the late "wet +spell," and wondered how long it would take to get to Heaven with their +building. And we imagine that even during the flood itself there were +sanguine souls who took the whole matter philosophically, declaring that +'it never rained long when the clouds looked _that_ way and the wind was +in _that_ direction.' The Israelites, we suspect, lightened their bondage +in Egypt by mimicking the pompous manners of their hated taskmasters and +ridiculing the fools who thought that bricks could be made without straw. +And the grimmest Egyptian mummy that now graces a museum or helps to +fertilize the wheat-fields of the West once wore a smile or grin upon his +leathern face as he related to a brother mummy how Pharoah made sport of +the Israelites by promising to "let them go," and then when they were all +on tip-toe with expectation, countermanding the order. Then they would +both shake their heads and chuckle with delight over the pleasant humor of +their monarch and declare that 'Pharoah was in high spirits to-day.' Thus +the world has rolled and chirruped and cackled on since the time when man +emerged from the animal. And Holmes suggests, in our motto, that the sense +of humor was in the animal before man. + + +I. + +Sometimes the humor of the Bible lies in the thing described,--the odd or +awkward or absurd thing said or done. + +"The Iliad," says Sidney Smith, "would never have come down to these +times, if Agamemnon had given Achilles a box on the ear. We should have +trembled for the AEneid, if some Trojan nobleman had kicked the pious AEneas +in the fourth book. AEneas, may have deserved it, but he never could have +founded the Roman Empire after so distressing an accident." And yet +accidents quite as distressing, if not of precisely the same nature, have +happened in the best families that ever lived upon this planet. The +writers of the Bible have not hesitated to give us a very frank account of +some of them. + +Imagine the vacant look of the terrified Aaron, as he gave his imbecile +explanation of the golden calf! Moses and Joshua are coming down from the +mountain. "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, +he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And Moses +answered, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is +it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them +that sing do I hear." Soon they draw near the camp and see "the calf and +the dancing." Then does the anger of Moses wax hot. In his rage he flings +down and shatters the "tables of stone." Like a whirlwind he descends upon +the camp, hurls the miserable calf into the fire, and demands an +explanation of his recreant brother. "What did this people unto thee that +thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?" Aaron quails beneath the +wrath of Moses and stammers: "Thou knowest the people that they are set on +mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods which shall go before us: +for as for this Moses"--think of that, _this Moses_--"that brought us up +out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." You see +they are set on mischief; they were disrespectful even unto you--_this +Moses_. Something had to be done. "And I said unto them, Whosoever hath +any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into +the fire, and"--what do you suppose happened?--"_there came out this +calf_!" I was as much surprised as you are, but no one is responsible--_it +did itself_! + +In quaint fashion did Saul make honest confession when smitten with +remorse on account of his persecution of David: "Behold I have played the +fool!" The regret of Prince Hal also--"Thus do we play the fools with +time, while the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us." + +What an odd--almost laughable--spectacle is the bombastic Nebuchadnezzar, +one moment proudly striding along the battlements of his palace, "Is not +this great Babylon which I have builded?"--the next eating grass like the +beasts of the field! As Carlyle says: "A purple Nebuchadnezzar rejoices to +feel himself now veritably emperor of this great Babylon which he has +builded; and _is_ a nondescript, biped-quadruped, on the eve of a seven +years' course of grazing." + +There is a scene in the life of David in which that worthy is represented +as cutting fantastic capers before high heaven. At one time, in order to +keep out of Saul's way, David went down to Gath. The servants of King +Achish recognize him, and tell their royal master that this is the famous +David over whose exploits the daughters of Israel sang. "Is not this +David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in +dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten +thousands?" But David does not wish his identity known and with +characteristic shrewdness he feigns insanity. "He feigned himself mad, and +scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his +beard,"--a sorry looking hero! So thinks the king Achish. What, this the +man that slew the giant? this drivelling lunatic the victor that Israel's +daughters praised? His disgust knows no bounds. He is almost as grotesque +in his anger as is David in his appearance and conduct. He turns upon his +courtiers in offended dignity and cries, "Lo, ye see the man is mad; +wherefore have ye brought him to me? _Have I need of madmen_, (are not ye +my own servants sufficient?) that ye have brought this fellow to play the +madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" "Fool me no +fools," says King Achish. When King Achish asked, "Have I need of madmen?" +he evidently thought of his own servants and courtiers as did Christian +I., of Denmark, in modern times, of those who graced _his_ Court. He +sharply remarked, on a presentation to him of several court fools, that +"he was not in want of such things, and if he were, he had only to give +license to his courtiers, who, to his certain knowledge, were capable of +exhibiting themselves as the greatest fools in Europe!" + +In Nehemiah's account of building the walls of Jerusalem, he shows how +sorely the Jews took the clumsy jibes of their foes and gives us a +specimen of Samaritan joking in that early day. Sanballat mocked the Jews +and said, "What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will +they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the +stones out of the heaps of rubbish which are burned?" Tobiah, the Amorite, +was yet more caustic: "Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he will +even break down their stone wall." This ridicule, although the jests do +not seem very formidable to us, was harder to bear than attacks with sword +and spear. It is so to-day. We can stand anything but laughter. One would +rather be made to appear infamous than ridiculous. The only answer the +builders could make was to pray for the destruction of their sarcastic +persecutors. They wished that heaven's bolts of lightning might answer +these bolts of wit. + + +II. + +Sometimes the humor lies in the description itself rather than in the +thing described. Dr. Barrow, in his famous essay, says of facetiousness, +"Sometimes it is wrapped up in a dress of humorous expression." + +An excellent example is furnished in the account of the mob at Ephesus: +"Some, therefore, cried one thing and some another; for the assembly was +confused; _and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together_." + +When Sidney Smith speaks of "distressing accidents," we are reminded that +an exceedingly "distressing accident" happened in the very first family of +which we have any record--the family that started in Eden. Aside from any +question as to the literal truth of the story, nothing can exceed the +simplicity and naturalness with which the writer has described the +culprits and their excuses. The first thing they did after their +transgression was to hide. The supreme and perpetual folly of guilt is to +imagine that it can be hid when the voice of the Lord God is heard in the +garden. "And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art +thou?" The culprit creeps forth from his hiding-place and stammers, "I +heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I +hid myself." "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the +tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?" Now the guilty +secret is out and Adam pleads in extenuation, "The woman that thou gavest +to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." It was no fault of +mine. That _woman_ was to blame--the woman, O Lord, remember, that _thou_ +gavest to be with me. Is not a little of the responsibility thine also, O +Lord? A touch of nature! "As it was in the beginning, is now and ever +shall be!" But Eve will not bear all the blame. She also is ready with her +excuse: "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat." Another remove in the +location of the responsibility. If we can forget all that theology has put +into this story and look on it simply as a bit of literature, it is a +charming description of the way in which we mortals disclaim +accountability for our deeds. + + "And oftentimes excusing of a fault, + Doth make the fault worse by the excuse; + As patches set upon a little breach, + Discredit more in hiding of the fault, + Then did the fault before it was so patched." + +Job has expressed his contempt for Adam's conduct in Eden by invoking upon +himself even greater ills than he was then suffering, if he followed that +disgraceful example,--"If I covered my transgression as Adam, by hiding my +iniquity in my bosom." In magnificent scorn of Adam's hiding from the Lord +and laying his guilt upon another, Job exclaims, "Behold, my desire is +that the Almighty _would_ answer me!" and avows that "he would declare +unto him the number of his steps, and as a prince would go near unto +him,"--not skulk away from his presence among trees and bushes. The low +estimation in which Job holds Adam suggests that the old Hebrew who wrote +the story in Genesis, may have intended to hold up that primal man in a +humorous light. + +Whether the story of Balaam is literally correct in its details is one of +the questions this little volume is not intended to discuss. The writer of +that story tells his tale as naively as if conversations between men and +animals were of everyday occurrence. If we read it as we would any similar +piece, any other fable in which men and beasts speak to each other, we +should say that there were some elements of the ludicrous in the picture +of the prophet rebuked by his ass. "And the ass saw the angel of the Lord +standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and the ass turned +aside out of the way and went into the field. And Balaam smote the ass to +turn her into the way." Just what any one would do to a "shying" animal, +upon impulse. "But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, +a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw +the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed +Balaam's foot against the wall; and he smote her again." Naturally enough! +"And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where +there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when +the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam; and +Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff." The rising +wrath of the prophet can no longer be controlled. The turning from the +way, the crushing of his foot against the wall, and finally the falling +down under him and refusing to proceed further,--these indignities on the +part of the ass at length exasperate the prophet beyond all measure, and +he right lustily lays on the cudgel. "What have I done unto thee that thou +hast smitten me these three times?" meekly inquires the belabored ass. +"Because thou hast mocked me, I would that there were a sword in my hand, +for now I would kill thee," roars Balaam. Thou hast mocked me; thou hast +played tricks upon thy master, the prophet of God. Thou hast done this on +purpose to vex me and put me to shame. Thou hast made a sorry spectacle of +me with thy pranks, and thou hast crushed my foot in the bargain. "Am I +not thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this +day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee?" Should you not have known there +was something unusual? These are touches of nature in a story which might +illustrate the saying of Isaiah in which he attributes higher wisdom to +brutes than to men: "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's +crib, but Israel doth not know, my people will not consider." Was it this +saying that Shakespeare had in mind when he said, through the lips of +Mark Antony: + + "O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, + And men have lost their reason." + +At one time the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and other cities, +and put them into the cities of Samaria to take the places of the children +of Israel; but the new inhabitants did not fear the Lord, so the writer +tells us that the Lord sent lions among them and slew them. Some one spoke +to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which thou hast moved and +placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the +land." They are not acquainted with his habits and methods, and have +gotten themselves into great trouble. The God of the land has sent lions +among them. The king, hearing this, is in great dismay. It will never +do--the ravages of those lions must be stopped. He evidently thought, as +did Nick Bottom, "There is no more fearful wild-fowl than your lion +living, and we ought to look to it." "Then the king of Assyria commanded, +saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence, and +let him go there and dwell and teach them the manner of the God of the +land." The priest went and taught the uninitiated people not to provoke a +God who could let hungry lions loose upon them at any moment. The people +listened in terror. The result of the instruction was that "the people +_feared_ the Lord,"--with a side glance at the lions. They tried to +refrain from what would make him angry enough to order out the lions but +after all--and there must have been a twinkle in the eye of the scribe as +he recorded it--"_they served their own gods_." + +When Queen Vashti refused to come into the presence of King Ahasuerus and +his drunken lords, she did something that was wholly unprecedented. +Nothing of the kind had ever before been heard of in the whole history of +the empire. The revellers are shocked sober. Consternation reigns supreme. +When did a queen ever refuse to do the bidding of a king? a wife the +bidding of a husband? Are all our ancient notions of propriety to be +overturned? What will be the effect of Vashti's rebellion? The feelings of +the king are outraged because the queen declines to unveil her beauty +before his roistering courtiers. Enraged, he demands, "What shall be done +unto Queen Vashti because she hath not performed the commandment of the +King Ahasuerus?" It is a grave question. The lords themselves have a stake +in this matter. They fear the result of this strong-minded example. The +contagion of disobedience may spread. If it should, whose authority as +husband is safe? And Memucan answered, "Vashti, the queen, hath not done +wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people +that are in the province of the King Ahasuerus. For this deed of Queen +Vashti's shall come abroad to all women, to make their husbands +contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be reported that the King +Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, _but she +came not_. And this day shall all the princesses of Persia and Media which +have heard of the deed of the queen, say the like unto all the king's +princes. So shall there arise too much contempt and wrath." Such a thought +could not be entertained. As Dogberry would put it, "It is most tolerable +and not to be endured." Memucan, therefore, advises: "If it please the +king let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written +among the laws of the Persians and Medes, that it be not altered, that +Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal +estate unto another that is better than she." The penalty is severe, but +the case is one that demands heroic treatment. "And when the king's decree +which he shall make, shall be published throughout all his empire, _all +the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both great and small_." The +advice is accepted. "The saying pleased the king and the princes; and the +king did according to the word of Memucan; for he sent letters into all +the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing +thereof, to every people after their language, that _every man should bear +rule in his own house_." Thus perished the first recorded movement in the +direction of woman's rights! + + +III. + +The humor of the Biblical writers is often shown in the way they pierce +through outward actions and penetrate to the hidden motives of men. Before +their keen vision external disguises are vain. + +Let us turn to the account of sending the demons from the maniac into the +swine. Let us take the account that speaks of but one maniac. "Then they +that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country. And +they went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and +see him that was possessed of the devil and had the legion, sitting +clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid." It must have seemed +absurd to the evangelist that these Gadarenes should have been afraid of +the insane man after he had been restored. But the swineherds have not yet +told all their story. "And when they that saw it told them how it befell +to him that was possessed with the devils and _also concerning the +swine_--" "Aye, there's the rub!" "when they heard _that, they began to +pray him to depart out of their coasts_." A man has been restored, but a +herd of swine has been lost. This new prophet will ruin us all, if he +stays here. Let him begone. Though he saved men, they prayed him to depart +because he let the swine be drowned. Jesus himself said once that "every +man was of more value than many sparrows;" but these Gadarenes seemed to +think that no man was worth "two thousand swine." + +In the preceding section of this chapter, Paul's description of a mob is +noted. It will be interesting to understand the occasion of that mob. When +Paul preached at Ephesus, there was a marked decline in the demand for +images and silver shrines of Diana. The market became weak. One of the +principal manufacturers, Demetrius, called together all who were in the +same business and said: "Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our +wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that not alone in Ephesus, but almost +throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much +people, saying that there be no gods which are made with hands: so that +not only _this our craft is in danger to be set at naught_, but that the +temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence +should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth!" Demetrius, +the unctuous hypocrite, seems to throw the real consideration into the +background, and to be actuated mainly by concern for the honor of his +goddess. Ah, Demetrius, Demetrius, little do you, little do your fellow +craftsmen care for Diana and her worship, except as you get your gain +through her devotees. But make the people think you are full of zeal for +religion, and under the mantle of this falsehood cloak your motives, as +you rush through the streets crying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" +Rouse the populace, always ripe for mischief, and always more furious than +ever when they think that religion, something of which they do not +understand the first letter, and of which they are absolutely destitute, +is in danger. Rouse the people, make a pious demonstration, O Demetrius, +but know that he who recorded it all for future ages, wrote down your +inmost secret--"_By this craft we have our wealth!_" + +Another instance of hypocrisy similar to that of Demetrius, occurred at +Philippi. Paul and his comrades had spoiled the business of certain ones +who had in charge a damsel who uttered prophecies and told fortunes, by +casting out her "spirit of divination." "_And when her masters saw that +the hope of their gains was gone_, they caught Paul and Silas and drew +them into the market-place unto the rulers, and brought them to the +magistrate, saying, These men being Jews do exceeding trouble our city, +and teach customs which are not lawful for us to observe, being Romans." +It is patriotism that furnishes the cloak in this case. No allusion to +their loss of money--surely not; what matters that? "He who steals my +purse steals trash." But we must do our duty by our fellow-citizens. We +must not let these Jewish notions corrupt our civilization. We are loyal +Romans, let all the world know! Is there not something in this incident +to suggest the truthfulness of Dr. Johnson's remark, "Patriotism is the +last refuge of a scoundrel?" + +The result of the uproar was that the apostles were beaten and cast into +prison. Somehow it was soon discovered that they themselves were Roman +citizens, "and when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, +saying, Let these men go. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to +Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go; now, therefore, depart and +go in peace." It is now Paul's turn to be indignant, and he is not the man +to let the opportunity slip. Paul insisted, as he had a right to do, upon +his dignity as a Roman citizen. He tartly replied, "They have taken us +openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and do +they now thrust us out privily? Nay, verily; but _let them come themselves +and fetch us_." A touch of nature there! "And they came (meekly enough +now, those pompous magistrates) _and brought them out_." + +A man who never lacked courage was Paul. It had been told him that there +were certain ones among the Corinthians who had respect for his letters, +but something bordering on contempt for his person. "For his letters, they +say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his +speech contemptible." This is his answer: "Let such an one think this, +that such as we are in word by letters, when we are absent, such will we +be also in deed, when we are present." Let those scoffers look to +themselves! + +In lighter and almost playful vein, is his remark about the church at +Corinth, in his second letter: "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought +among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." And yet +there was one point in which the Corinthian church was inferior to others: +"For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, _except it be +that I myself was not burdensome unto you_?" Paul had allowed the other +churches with which he labored to support him, but to the Corinthian +church he had not accorded the same privilege. He had favored it with no +opportunity for benevolence. "_Forgive me_," he exclaims, "_this wrong_." + +Paul relates that on one occasion he had a dispute with Peter at Antioch, +in which he "withstood Peter to the face, because Peter was to blame." It +is to be doubted whether Peter ever quite forgot this dispute. The memory +of it may have lingered and been particularly active when he referred in +one of his own letters to "our beloved brother Paul who, according to the +wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles +speaking of these things; _in which are some things hard to be understood, +which they that are unstable and unlearned do wrest_, as they do also the +other Scriptures, (pray do not think that I am making brother Paul's +writings an exception) _to their own destruction_." + +There is another phase of this general subject that is reserved for +separate treatment in the following chapter. We pause here to say that the +people of Bible times have been removed from the people of to-day by a +chasm too wide and deep. We have been accustomed to look upon them as +belonging to another race--almost to another world. It is difficult to +believe that they were "men of like passions with ourselves." It seems +almost like sacrilege to intimate that they had their follies and +weaknesses; that they did things absurd and laughable, and sometimes went +farther and did things that were mean and wicked. There was a vast deal of +human nature in those sublime characters. Gail Hamilton sums them up as +follows: "Adam had dominion over the earth, but he attempted to shield +himself from the divine displeasure by laying the blame upon his wife, +which no gentleman would ever do. Noah was a 'just man and perfect in his +generation,' if you do not mind an occasional fit of drunkenness. Abraham +was a fine old sheik, a truly heroic figure, brave, generous, courteous, +hospitable, magnanimous; no wonder the haughty Jews loved to remember and +repeat that they were Abraham's children. But Abraham had his weaknesses +and fell before his temptations; and Isaac followed in his footsteps. Of +Jacob perhaps the least said the better, though he maintained his position +as head of his family with unrelenting vigor, calling no man master, +either son or king. There may have been other men whose life was 'without +fear and without reproach'; but their history is unknown to us; their +portrait is hardly more than a name." + + + + +IV. THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. + + +"When a child, with child-like apprehensions that dived not beneath the +surface of the matter, I read those parables--not guessing the involved +wisdom--I had more yearnings toward that simple architect that built his +house upon the sand, than I entertained for his more cautious neighbor; I +grudged at the harsh censure pronounced upon the quiet soul that kept his +talent; and prizing their simplicity beyond the more provident, and to my +apprehension, somewhat _unfeminine_ wariness of their competitors, I felt +a kindness that amounted almost to a _tendre_ for those thoughtless +virgins. I have never made an acquaintance since that lasted, or a +friendship that answered, with any that had not some tincture of the +absurd in their characters."--_Charles Lamb._ + + + + +THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. + + "Amid the sorrow, disappointment, agony, and anguish of the + world,--our dark thoughts and tempestuous passions, the gloomy + exaggerations of self will, the enfeebling illusions of + melancholy,--wit and humor, light and lightning, shed their soft + radiance and dart their electric flash."--_Whipple._ + + +"How curious it is," says the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, "that we +always consider solemnity, and the absence of all gay surprises and +encounters of wits, as essential to the idea of the future life of those +whom we thus deprive of half their faculties and then call _blessed_! +There are not a few who, even in this life, seem to be preparing +themselves for that smileless eternity by banishing all gayety from their +hearts and all joyousness from their countenances." Rather than believe in +the "smileless eternity" of such as these, we should accept the conjecture +of Soame Jennings, that "a portion of the happiness of seraphim and just +men made perfect would be derived from an exquisite perception of the +ludicrous." + +To that school of melancholy teachers who frown upon all pleasantry, and +buttress their gloomy position with the assertion that "Jesus wept but +never smiled," the title of this chapter will be particularly offensive. +It will strike them as downright blasphemy to intimate that Jesus +possessed and used the sense of humor so common to mankind. We assuredly +appreciate the delicacy of the position, and shall endeavor to avoid, in +our treatment of this subject, anything that might wound the most +sensitive soul. + +There are several considerations that will pave the way. We take it for +granted that Jesus was a complete human being, and that as such a being he +must have had all the human attributes and faculties,--the faculty of +mirthfulness among them. He was a man, and lacked nothing that pertains to +men. Then, too, had he been without the sense of humor, much in the lives +and characters of those with whom he had to deal, he never could have +understood and reached. The full success of his mission depended upon his +knowing all that there is in man, and upon being able to gain access to +him through every avenue of his nature. + +Nor were the circumstances of his life unfavorable to the development of +this particular attribute. Theology and Art have conspired to produce upon +the world the impression that Jesus was an exceptionally wretched and +suffering man. They have taken one or two expressions in Isaiah, such as, +"his countenance was marred," "he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with +grief," expressions which they misunderstood and misapplied, and with them +have laid the foundations of their house of woe. They have seized upon a +few of the sadder incidents of his career, and have exaggerated them into +undue prominence,--have given them undue proportions. Especially have they +made much of his agony in the garden and his death upon the cross. These +events have been magnified into such mountains that all the rest of his +life seems to lie hidden beneath their shadows. It appears never to have +entered the mind of either preacher or painter that the physical anguish +of his death must have been even less than that which many martyrs at the +stake or martyrs upon sickbeds have borne; and that before death came, he +had lived a life with many bright days and many happy experiences. His +existence upon earth was not a protracted sorrow, a monumental grief. Many +a rose had blossomed at his feet before the thorns were twisted into a +crown for his brow. + +What shall we say of the thirty peaceful years under his father's roof, +with his brothers and sisters? Did he not in boyhood have the amusements +of other children? Is there not a memento of his youthful sports in what +he says of the games of the children in the marketplace, when they were +playing at weddings and funerals? Did he not, when a young man, delight in +his home and in his companions? Can we imagine that he moved among those +who were nearest and dearest to him, with a face to which a smile was as +much a stranger as a tropic flower to the frozen zone? + +When, as a mature man, he entered upon his public ministry, although he +was exposed to frequent attacks from the representatives of the +established religion, yet he was never without friends; never without a +place of refuge from the heat of battle. There were many homes in which a +welcome always awaited him, and whose hospitality he gladly accepted. Is +it probable that he was accustomed to sit in these homes--to use +Shakespeare's phrase--"like his grandsire cut in alabaster?" + +More than once we are directly told that "he rejoiced in spirit;" more +than once he spoke of his "joy" to his disciples. There is much evidence +that Jesus was not a wretched but a happy man. Did this happiness never +express itself in words or countenance? + +There are other considerations that go far to refute the dismal assertion +that "Jesus wept but never smiled." Tired mothers brought their children +to him and he rebuked the supercilious disciples who interfered. Can we +think that on this occasion he had a woe-begone look? We read of him often +at feasts; would he have been invited if he had been accustomed to sit at +the table like the skeleton at an Egyptian banquet? Did he not by his +frequent attendance upon festive occasions incur the odium of being a +wine-bibber and a glutton? He was also a favorite with the common people. +They heard him gladly. But there must have been something attractive in +his presence and manner, as well as in his words, and the words themselves +must have appealed to the shrewd, homely, common sense of his hearers. If +he had been the sad spirit he has been pictured, would the people have +followed him and listened to him as they did? + +When we leave the outward circumstances and the presumption they furnish, +and examine the fragments of his speech that have been preserved for us, +many of them certainly contain the element of humor. We should undoubtedly +call it humor if it came from any other lips than those of Jesus; if we +found it in any other book than the New Testament. + +The purpose of this chapter will be grossly misapprehended, however, if +any one shall suppose that we are trying to degrade Jesus to the level of +a professional joker. Nothing is further from our intention. The very +thought is repulsive. One may have and use the sense of humor without +putting on the cap and bells. He may use it with the highest motives and +for the noblest ends. It was said of Hosea Ballou, that "it was no +uncommon thing for him when preaching to excite a smile; but usually it +was done by some ingenious argument that would electrify every one +present." His biographer adds: "It is not known that any person ever +listened to one of his sermons who was not so impressed with his +sincerity, dignity and earnestness, that the recollection of his +occasional humorous sayings was held subsidiary and helpful to his main +serious purpose. His mother-wit was sanctified. It served a divine mission +in diffusing cheerfulness and health." We must always remember that wit +and humor do not mean buffoonery. + +It is difficult to understand how any one can read many of the parables +and other sayings of Jesus, and still believe the doleful tale that he +"wept but never smiled." He saw the dancing lights as well as the deep +shadows, the more genial and even ludicrous aspects of life, as well as +its various phases of sorrow and sin, and all these furnished subjects for +his discourse as well as illustrations for his teaching. + +Let us now consider some of the ways in which the sense of humor in Jesus +manifested itself. + + +I. + +The sense of humor often tempered his rebukes. There was often sunshine on +the cloud. + +There were times, indeed, as we shall see, when he spoke with unmeasured +severity, when his words fell like fiery hail, beating and burning the +heads of offenders; but anon he spoke half smiling, half pitying, as if +disposed to laugh at the very inconsistencies he censured. In this respect +his spirit has been caught by Addison and Goldsmith, by Irving and +Dickens. Richter says that "no one has a right to laugh at men but he who +most heartily loves them." Taine says of Dickens, "Before reading him we +did not know there was so much pity in the heart." Jesus loved men, he +pitied them, even while his eye detected and his words exposed their +faults and foibles. + +He had looked with pleasure (remembering his own childhood), upon the +games of the boys and girls in the streets of Jerusalem; he thought of +their whimsical complaints, as they played at weddings and funerals in the +market-place. On one occasion, his severity mitigated by his sense of the +ludicrous, he exclaimed, "Whereunto shall I liken this generation? and to +what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the +market-places and calling to one another and saying, We have piped unto +you and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you and ye have not +lamented." Everything had gone wrong. The others would not play fair. They +would not dance when we wanted to play wedding; they would not be mourners +when we wanted to play funeral. We have done all we could to please them, +but they are "too mean for anything." To the mind of Jesus, the people of +that generation appeared to be making the same complaint. They were +childishly dissatisfied with every divine messenger,--none could please +them. "For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking +wine,"--solemn, gloomy, austere; but they would have none of him. He +mourned unto them, but they would not lament. They would not "play at +funeral" with him. They turned away and said, "He hath a devil." Then came +the Son of Man, bright and cheerful, "eating and drinking," but they would +not dance to his piping. They pointed at him and said, "Behold a +gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" It +was impossible to please that generation. + +If we place this passage side by side with the following from Goldsmith, +we shall see at once that if there be humor in the latter, there must also +be humor in the former. The subject is the reception accorded the Chinese +philosopher who tried to please his friends by his demeanor upon the death +of an English sovereign: "I thought it at least my duty to appear +sorrowful; to put on a melancholy aspect, or to set my face by that of the +people. The first company I came amongst after the news became general was +a set of jolly companions who were drinking prosperity to the ensuing +reign. I entered the room with looks of despair, and even expected +applause for the superlative misery of my countenance. Instead of that, I +was universally condemned by the company and desired to take away my +penitential phiz to some other quarter. I now corrected my former mistake, +and with the most sprightly air imaginable entered a company where they +were talking over the ceremonies of the approaching funeral. Here I sat +for some time with an air of pert vivacity, when one of the chief mourners +immediately observing my good humor desired me, if I pleased, to go and +grin somewhere else; they wanted no disaffected scoundrels there. Fum, +thou son of Fo, what sort of people am I amongst?" _Whereunto shall I +liken this generation?_ + +There was a certain time when multitudes followed Jesus, not knowing what +they were about, but simply swept along by the enthusiasm of the moment. +He saw that they understood not, so he turned and gave them this gentle +caution: "Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first +and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest, +haply, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all +that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was +not able to finish." Whoever comes after me and does not count upon +bearing his cross, is in the predicament of this foolish tower-builder,--a +ludicrous spectacle as he sits beside the unfinished structure, his +materials exhausted, while all his neighbors, as they pass by, wag the +head and point the finger. Such a spectacle as that will each one of you +be who does not count the cost of discipleship. With such gentle strokes +of humor did Jesus stay the thoughtless multitudes who imagined that their +empty zeal was genuine loyalty. He set forth their conduct in terms that +would most effectually impress upon them its folly,--in terms that +appealed to their sense of the ridiculous. + +In a sarcastic paragraph of his _French Revolution_, Carlyle speaks of the +work of the National Convention thus: "In fact, what can be more +unprofitable than the sight of six hundred and forty-nine ingenious men +struggling with their whole force and industry, for a long course of +weeks, to do at bottom this; to stretch out the old Formula and Law +phraseology, so that it may cover the new, contradictory, entirely +uncoverable thing? Whereby the poor formula does but _crack_ and one's +honesty along with it. The thing that is palpably _hot_, burning, wilt +thou prove it by a syllogism to be a freezing mixture? This of stretching +out formulas till they crack is, especially in times of swift change, one +of the sorrowfullest tasks poor humanity has." Was it not this very +formula-stretching that Jesus satirized in more playful vein,--this +formula-stretching that existed in old times and that still exists,--when +he said: "No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, +then, both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the +new agreeth not with the old"? You can not patch up old terms with new +meanings. The new meaning agreeth not with the old term. "And no man +putteth new wine into old wine-skins; else the new wine will burst the +wine-skins and be spilled, and the wine-skins shall perish. But new wine +must be put into new wine-skins, and both are preserved." The man who +tries to put new senses into old words, new ideas into old formulas, is +like a man who cuts up a new garment to mend an old; like one who puts +wine not yet done fermenting into a skin whose capacity admits no further +strain. He spoils his new coat and he loses his new wine. + +With such illustrations as these, illustrations embodying a figure or +comparison or situation essentially amusing, was Jesus wont to temper his +rebukes. + + +II. + +The sense of humor in Jesus enabled him to detect pretension, imposture, +hypocrisy, and expose them to the derision of mankind. + +If we should find in Dickens or Thackeray such pictures as Jesus has given +of the Scribes and Pharisees, they would strike us at once as the very +quintessence of humor. "They go arrayed in long clothing, they love the +uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues." They are +always posturing to attract attention. "They love greetings in the +market-places, to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi." In their way, they are +as much given to "deportment" as Mr. Turveydrop, when he says, "I suppose +I must now go and show myself about town; it will be expected of me." When +they pray, they do it standing in the synagogues or at the corners of the +streets that all may see how pious they are; when they perform their deeds +of righteousness, a trumpet is sounded before them, to make solemn +proclamation; as who should say, "Will the public please take notice; I am +about to drop a mite into this poor widow's hand." When they fast they put +on "a sad countenance and disfigure their faces" with fictitious woe and +weeping, "that they may appear unto men to fast." "See how I lay the dust +with my tears," says Launce. Everything they did was done for effect; +nothing came from the heart. Their religion was the veriest sham. They had +well-nigh reached the measure of South's ideal hypocrite, "who never opens +his mouth in earnest, but when he eats or breathes." Well might Jesus say, +"The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; _all things, therefore, +whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do, but do ye not +according to their works; for they say and do not_." Does not this remind +us of Pecksniff, "who was a most exemplary man, fuller of virtuous +precepts than a copy-book; but some people likened him to a direction-post +which is always telling the way to a place, and never goes there." + + +III. + +Not only did the sense of humor in Jesus enable him to unmask pretentious +hypocrites, but also to expose the absurdities that the multitudes +commonly practiced in the name of religion. + +There are those, for example, who in prayer use "vain repetitions," +thinking that they shall be heard for their "much speaking." They +estimate the efficacy of prayer by its quantity and not by its quality. +They think that if they only keep at it long enough, if they only use +multitudes of words, they will surely attract attention on high. + +There are others who think that religion consists in the "washing of pots +and cups and such like things" and they "lay aside the commandment of +God." One of their representatives in modern literature is Dolly Winthrop, +who tells Silas Marner about the letters "I.H.S." pricked upon the +Christmas cakes: "I can't read 'em myself, and there's nobody, not Mr. +Macey himself, rightly knows what they mean; but they've a good meaning, +for they're the same as is on the pulpit-cloth at Church; an' if there's +any good, we've need of it in this world." + +It is curious how the superstition of externalism has affected many, even +noble minds. Dr. Johnson once said of John Campbell, a political and +philosophical writer, "Campbell is a good man, a pious man; I'm afraid he +has not been inside of a church for a good many years, but he never passes +a church without pulling off his hat. This shows he has good principles." + + +IV. + +Jesus perceived the blunders of the well-meaning, but ignorant and +ambitious,--such as the man who went to the wedding party without suitable +garments, and was unceremoniously shown to the door; such as the obtuse +people who, invited to a feast, always took the seats of honor and were as +often courteously escorted to seats further down the table. When the "more +honorable man" came, the host would say, "Give this man place," and the +other would "begin with shame to take the lowest seat." Jesus saw these +blunders, and we cannot believe that he was blind to their comical side. +He must have felt that the mistake was a ludicrous one, even when he +advised the stupid people who made it, "When thou art bidden, go and sit +down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say, +Friend, go up higher; and then thou shalt have worship in the presence of +them that sit at meat with thee." + + +V. + +The sense of humor in Jesus is still further shown by his selection of +characters for his parables and illustrations. How many of them are what +we should call "odd sticks" to-day! + +Could any one devoid of humor, or opposed to its use, have described such +odd or eccentric people as the fool who thought that sand was as good a +foundation for his house as rock; or the drowsy friend roused at midnight +to lend his neighbor bread and scolding furiously at the annoyance? Then +we have the shepherd's coward hireling who ran away from his flock when he +saw the wolf coming; the foolish rich man; the unscrupulous steward who +provided for himself by cheating his master; the three fellows who made +such puerile excuses for absenting themselves from the king's +banquet,--one was interested in a real estate transaction, another was +dealing in stock, while the third had just "married a wife." Perhaps the +characterization of all these excuses as puerile, may be too sweeping. +This last case may be an exception. Having just entered the holy estate of +matrimony, any plans this man might have formed before that event were of +course subject to revision. Let us not be too hard upon him. It may be +that he rests under too heavy a load of censure. He may even be deserving +of sympathy. He said--was there a suggestion of desperation in his +words?--"I have married a wife and therefore I _can not_ come." The king +ought very likely to have exempted this man from his wrath; for he seems +to say, "I should like to come, but--!" + +Then there was the servant who, in his lord's absence, got above his +business, assumed the master, became drunken in the company of roisterers, +and beat his fellow-servants; but was at last put to shame by the sudden +and unexpected arrival of his master. This servant was a veritable Jaques +who, in the old play, assumed to be his master, the Duke, and who was +likewise brought to grief by his master's return: "I must appear +important; big as a country pedagogue when he enters the school-room with +a-hem, and terrifies the apple-munching urchins with the creaking of his +shoes. I'll swell like a shirt bleaching in a high wind; and look as +burly as a Sunday beadle when he has kicked down the unhallowed stall of a +profane old apple-woman. Bring my chair of state!" + +There are other characters, such as the shrewd laborer who, digging in a +field, finds a hidden treasure and secreting it goes and buys the field; +the unjust judge who finally, completely tired out, gives way in no very +amiable mood to the widow's unceasing petitions for justice; the timid +soul, who, fearing to use his talent, hid it in a napkin and buried it in +the earth; the self-righteous Pharisee who recounts his good deeds before +the Lord of the Temple and complacently congratulates himself that he is +not as other men! "God, I thank thee that I am not as the rest of men, +extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice +in the week; I give tithes of all that I get!" Mr. Pecksniff once +more!--so satisfied with himself, "so radiant with ingenuous honesty that +Mrs. Lupin almost wondered not to see a stained-glass glory, such as the +saint wore in the church, shining about his head!" + + +VI. + +In the introduction, reference was made to the words of Mr. Shorthouse +which suggested this investigation. This seems a fitting place to present +the only example in which Mr. Shorthouse has carried out his own +suggestion,--the Parable of the Prodigal Son. + +"But is it trite that there is no humor in the gospels? 'What strokes of +nature, if not of humor,' to use Mr. Addison's words again, may we find in +the story, let us say, of the Prodigal Son? What, in the light of the +modern conception of humor, will come out of this? + +Here, surely, there is no want of real life, of low life, even. Here is a +wild young scamp, as like Tom Jones as heart could wish. Here is +ingratitude, forgetfulness of parents, riotous living, taverns, harlots, +what not? Then beggary, and feeding swine, and living upon husks. Then +when evil living is found not to answer, penitence--like Tom Jones again. + +And 'when he was yet a great way off his father saw him,' along the stony +road beneath the vine-clad hills. Who can tell how often the father's eyes +had gazed longingly down the road since his son's figure, gay, reckless of +the benefits just bestowed, accompanied by servants, eager for the +pleasures of the world, had vanished from his sight? Now, at last, after +so long waiting and looking, he sees in the far distance, a very different +sight. He sees a solitary figure, worn and bent down, in rags, dragging on +its weary steps; how could the old man's gaze expect such a sight as this? +Nevertheless, his father knew him, 'and ran and fell on his neck.' He did +not wait for any accents of repentance, nor did he enforce any moral +precepts which might advantage posterity. 'He fell on his neck and kissed +him.' Foolish old father! + +Tom Jones is brought in. He goes to the bath. The familiar feeling of +luxury comes over him once more. He is clothed in fine linen, and has a +gold ring placed on his finger, the past seems an evil dream. Then the +fatted calf is killed. The banquet is spread and there is festivity, +music, and dancing-girls. + +But suddenly, in the midst of his delight, some trouble passes over the +old man's face; his eldest son is not in his place, and they bring him +word that he is without and refuses to come in. Some perception of a +neglected truth passes through the father's mind, and he rises and goes +out. 'Therefore came his father out and entreated him.' + +The eldest son has been out all day working in the vineyards; all his life +had been one long performance of duty, taken for granted, and therefore +unpraised and unrecognized. In how many households will silent witness be +borne that this is real life--the gentle and obedient service +overlooked--nay, more than this, the cross word or hasty temper where +there is no fear that it will be returned. + +'All these years have I served thee * * * and yet thou never gavest me a +kid that I might make merry with my friends.' I am a man like others, +gayety and feasting are pleasant to me, as to them. + +A look of perplexed, but growing insight comes into the father's face. +'Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' + +This is all very well, still he is conscious that there is something to be +said for the eldest son, too. But his lost son--his wayward, and therefore +loved son, is come again. + +'It is meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother +was dead and is alive again.' We can see the pitiful, pleading look in the +old man's eyes,--'thy brother was dead.' + +Yes, Addison must be right. Nature and humor cannot be far apart. The +source and spring of humor is human life. Its charm consists, not merely +in laughter or even in joy, but in the stirring of those sympathies and +associations which exist invariably in the race; for we inherit a +world-life and a religion, the earth-springs of whose realities lie, +perchance, too deep for laughter, but not, Heaven be praised, too deep for +tears." + +Surely the examples given suggest an eye for the humorous in him who saw +and described them. These illustrations were, indeed, used to convey moral +truths, but they show how wide was the acquaintance of Jesus with all +sorts of characters, and how he loved to use such as were out of the +ordinary; such as, to-day, we should at least call "peculiar." A +recognition of this fact will help us better to appreciate and more +thoroughly to enjoy those simple, yet wonderful parables, out of which the +heavy hand of a severely literal criticism would crush all "touches of +nature." + + + + +V. PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS. + + +"Proverbs, must not be passed over in our enumeration,--proverbs, the +philosophy of the common people; short, pithy, homely sayings that embody +the concentrated essence of the common people's wisdom. It has been +difficult to give a perfect definition of a proverb, so crowded is it with +the life of shrewdness and experience; yet so easy and negligent is it, +and saucy as it were. Its characteristic excellences are shortness, sense +and salt. It is the wit of one man, the wisdom of thousands."--_Macbeth._ + + + + +PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS. + + + "The proverbialists occupy themselves with life in all its aspects. + Sometimes they simply catch the expression of men, good or bad, or + photograph their actions or thoughts; more generally they pass a + verdict upon them and exhort or instruct men in regard to them. * * * + Some of the proverbs have a certain flavor of humor."--_Davidson._ + + +"The wise men of old," says Whipple, "have sent most of their morality +down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram: and the +proverbs of nations which embody the common sense of nations, have the +brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit. Almost every sensible remark +on folly is a witty remark. Wit is thus often but the natural language of +wisdom, viewing life with a piercing and passionless eye." The object of +the present study is to consider those proverbs and other epigrammatic +sayings which distinctly contain the element of wit in some form or other, +and which are so liberally scattered over the pages of the Bible. + + +I.--THE BOOK OF PROVERBS. + +In such an investigation, we naturally turn, first of all, to that great +collection of proverbs, with which the name of Solomon has become +identified. They do not, however, represent his genius alone, although we +shall frequently use his name as representative of the whole class of +philosophers. They are the productions of many wise men through many +generations. They are, indeed, the outcome of the life of a whole people, +put into definite shape by those who had insight sufficiently keen and +power of expression sufficiently terse to formulate the lessons of human +experience. "The wise men," says Canon Driver, "took for granted the main +postulates of Israel's creed, and applied themselves rather to the +observation of human nature as such, seeking to analyze character, +studying action in its consequences, and establishing morality upon the +basis of principles common to humanity at large. On account of their +prevailing disregard of national points of view, and their tendency to +characterize and estimate human nature under its most general aspects, +they have been termed, not inappropriately, the _Humanists_ of Israel. +Their teaching had a practical aim; not only do they formulate maxims of +conduct, but they appear also as moral advisers, and as interested in the +education of the young." + +The Book of Proverbs is a perfect mine of cunning and glittering +sentences, many of which are witty as well as wise, and none the less wise +because they are witty. There are swords that pierce the hidden motives of +men, and whips that lacerate the backs of their open follies and sins. + + +_1. The Fool._ + +There is a personage, or more exactly, an assemblage of certain qualities, +constantly held up to ridicule under the general title of _The Fool_. +Ruskin says that "folly and sin are to some extent synonymous." The Fool +in the Book of Proverbs is one who combines mental stupidity with moral +obtuseness. He has a hard time of it at the hands of the proverbialists. +"He that begetteth a fool doeth so to his sorrow; the father of a fool +hath no joy." + +Foolish persons have always been noted for parading their folly, and +sounding a trumpet to proclaim their lack of understanding. So Solomon +says: "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of +his soul." "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright; but the mouth +of fools poureth out foolishness." "When he that is a fool walketh in the +way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a +fool,"--his scanty supply of sense is not enough to last him to the end of +his journey. There is a modern proverb to the same effect: "He has not wit +enough to last him over night." Everything the fool undertakes comes to +grief. "He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the +feet and drinketh damage." "The labor of the fool wearieth every one, +because he knoweth not how to go to the city." "The simple believeth every +word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going." "Let a bear robbed +of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly." No discipline +can be too severe for the fool. "Judgments are prepared for scorners and +stripes for the back of fools." "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the +ass, and a rod for the fool's back." But Solomon is not sanguine that the +most rigorous course will produce extraordinary results. "A reproof +entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." "Wisdom +is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the +ends of the earth." "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to +get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?" One can almost see that +picture--the fool wandering about the city with money in his hand, +inquiring where a person in need of it might purchase a commodity of good +common sense. "Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat +with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." In many +other proverbs is the fool gibbeted. "As snow in summer, and as rain in +harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool." "The legs of the lame are not +equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools." "As he that bindeth a stone +in a sling, making a dangerous weapon, so is he that giveth honor to a +fool." "As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable +in the mouth of fools." "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than +for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under +a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." In one chapter Solomon describes a +group of foolish persons. "For three things the earth is disquieted and +for four which it can not bear; for a servant when he reigneth"--the +modern instance is the "beggar on horseback,"--"and a fool when he is +filled with meat; for an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid +that is heir to her mistress." These four characters "play such fantastic +tricks before high heaven," that whether the "angels weep" or not, the +earth groans and is "disquieted." And yet Solomon seems to have found a +more grotesque and incorrigible character than the fool: "Seest thou a man +wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him." The +contempt of the proverbialists for the class of persons here described was +quite as strong as that of Dr. Samuel Johnson. When some one hoped that +the good doctor might meet in heaven a certain person whose conduct had +aroused his ire, he retorted with some warmth, "Madam, I am not fond of +meeting fools anywhere." + + +_2. The Idler._ + +How these writers love to castigate laziness! They toss the sluggard on +all manner of sharp-pointed epigrams. "He that gathereth in summer is a +wise son; he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." "The +way of a slothful man is as a hedge of thorns,"--he walks as slowly and +painfully as if avoiding thorns on either hand. "As vinegar to the teeth +and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him." "The +slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting." "The sluggard +will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore he shall beg in harvest +and have nothing." "Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." "He that +tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain +persons"--those who teach him that there is any other way to success than +honest industry,--"is void of understanding." "The slothful man says, +There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets." "As the door +turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." "The slothful +hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his +mouth." Too lazy to eat! This is the very acme of indolence. + + +_3. The Babbler._ + +These wise men recommend, in pithy terms, the judicious control of the +tongue. They commend the value of silence. "Whoso keepeth his mouth and +his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." "The beginning of strife is as +when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention before it be +meddled with." "It is an honor to a man to cease from strife, but every +fool will be meddling." "Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is +accounted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of +understanding." This is the same idea which we find, in more elaborate +form, in Shakespeare: + + "There are a sort of men, whose visages + Do cream and mantle like a standing pond; + And do a wilful stillness entertain, + With purpose to be drest in an opinion + Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; + As who should say, 'I am Sir Oracle, + And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!' + Oh, my Antonio, I do know of these, + That therefore only _are reputed wise + For saying nothing_: Who, I am very sure, + If they should speak, would almost damn these ears, + Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools." + +In point of condensation, the wit of the proverb has the advantage. +Coleridge relates an incident which illustrates that "even a fool when he +holdeth his peace is accounted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is +esteemed a man of understanding." He once saw, at a dinner table, "a +dignified man with a face as wise as the moon's." The awful charm of his +manner was not broken until the muffins appeared, and then the imp of +gluttony forced from him the exclamation--"Them's the jockeys for me!" + +There is a passage concerning the tongue in the Book of James, full of +sayings quite as terse and striking as any in the Book of Proverbs. "If +any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to +bridle the whole body." "The tongue is a little member and boasteth great +things; behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth." "Every kind of +beasts and birds and serpents is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind; +but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly +poison. * * * Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. * * * +Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" + +This passage from James may be placed side by side with the familiar story +of AEsop. His master, Xanthus, sent him to market to procure the best +things it afforded. When the dinner hour arrived, Xanthus discovered that +nothing but tongues had been provided. "What," he exclaimed in a rage, +"did I not tell you to procure the best things the market afforded?" "And +have I not obeyed your orders? Is there anything better than a tongue? Is +it not the bond of civil society, the organ of truth and reason, the +instrument of our praise and adoration of the gods?" The next day AEsop was +directed to go to the market and purchase the worst things it afforded. He +did so and again purchased nothing but tongues. "What!" cried Xanthus, +"tongues again?" "Certainly; for the tongue is surely the worst thing in +the world; it is the instrument of all strife and contention, the inventor +of law-suits, and the source of all division and wars; it is the organ of +errors, of lies, of calumnies, and blasphemies." + +"Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men who +are made after the likeness of God; out of the same mouth cometh forth +cursing and blessing." + + +_4. The Scold._ + +To return to the proverbs. Solomon had some unhappy domestic experiences, +and such proverbs as these may have been the outcome: "As a jewel of gold +in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without discretion." "A continual +dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. Whosoever +hideth her, hideth the wind." "It is better to dwell in the wilderness +than with a contentious and angry woman." "Better is a dinner of herbs +where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." "It is better to +dwell in the corner of a house top than with a brawling woman in a large +house." + + +_5. The Power of Money._ + +The proverbialists had been close observers of human nature, and of the +ways of the world. "Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of a +man are never satisfied." "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh +merry; but money answereth all things." "The rich ruleth over the poor, +and the borrower is servant to the lender." These wise men had seen much +to justify the sharp arrows they shot at those "who crook the pregnant +hinges of the knee where thrift may follow fawning." "The poor is hated +even of his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends." "Many will +entreat the favor of a prince, and every man is a friend to him that +giveth gifts." "A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before +great men." There is an incident in the second Book of Kings, that +exemplifies, with touches of humor, the truth of these proverbs. "And the +king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, (king of Israel,) for he had +sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and _brought no present to the king +of Assyria_, as he had done year by year." The king of Assyria is greatly +shocked at this sign of disrespect. His feelings are outraged and wounded +at receiving no present. It is suspicious, very suspicious! Let this +Hoshea be looked to. The man who fails to bring the usual present is fit +for "treasons, stratagems and spoils." There is no telling what evil he +may be plotting. Surely there is "conspiracy in him." "Therefore, the king +of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison." Solomon was right--"A +man's gift bringeth him before great men," but the absence of it bringeth +him into prison as a traitor! + + +_6. Miscellaneous._ + +Many other examples of wit and wisdom might be given. Let us add a few +miscellaneous ones. Solomon advises against making long calls. Busy men +would do well to hang this motto up in their offices: "Withdraw thy foot +from thy neighbor's house, lest he weary of thee and so hate thee." In +Solomon's wide and varied experiences, there had evidently been occasional +encounters with "bores." + +It may sometimes be well to present a stern front to the slanderer: "The +North wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a back-biting +tongue." + +Excellent advice this for those who indorse other people's notes: "Be not +one of them that strike hands, or one of them that are sureties for debts; +if thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under +thee?" "He that hateth suretyship is sure." + +There were those in that day, as well as in our own, who tried to beat +down the price of an article by depreciating its quality: "It is naught, +it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he hath gone his way, then he +boasteth." Donald G. Mitchell, in his charming book, _My Farm at +Edgewood_, has a chapter on "Dickering" which is, in effect, an +elaboration of the proverb last quoted. "Sometime or other, if a man enter +upon farm life--and it holds in almost every kind of life--there will come +to him a necessity for bargaining. It is a part of the curse, I think, +entailed upon mankind at the expulsion from Eden, that they should sweat +at a bargain. * * * If I were to take the opinions of my excellent +friends, the purchasers, for truth, I should be painfully conscious of +having possessed the most mangy hogs, the most aged cows, the scrubbiest +veal, and the most diseased and stunted growth of chestnuts and oaks with +which a country-liver was ever afflicted. For a time, in the early period +of my novitiate, I was not a little disturbed by these damaging +statements; but have been relieved by learning on further experience that +the urgence of such lively falsehoods is only an ingenious mercenary +device for the sharpening of a bargain." + + +II.--EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS FROM OTHER SOURCES. + +The epigrammatic sayings of the Bible are not confined, as we have already +seen, to the Book of Proverbs. We find them elsewhere. Hosea says of +idolaters, "They have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind." +Micah declared of the mercenary prophets, "He that putteth not into their +mouth, they even declare war against him." At the same time princes and +judges are so corrupt, that "the best of them is as a briar; the most +upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." + +Jeremiah charges against the people, "As a cage is full of birds, so are +their houses of deceit." "Can the Ethiopian," he asks, "change his skin, +or the leopard his spots?" and adds, "Then can ye also do right who are +accustomed to do evil." This is equivalent to the proverb of another +people: "Though you feed milk to a young snake, will it leave off its +habit of creeping under the hedge?" + +"Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?" asks Jeremiah; +"yet my people have forgotten me days without number." "Yea, the stork in +the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and +the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the +judgment of the Lord." "As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them +not; so he that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the +middle of his days, and at the end shall be a fool." + +Isaiah admonishes the people, "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this +broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and +pierce it; so is Pharoah, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him,"--a +saying which calls to mind the message Jesus sent to Herod, "Go, tell that +fox." To those who trusted in the prowess of the Egyptians, Isaiah +declares, "Now, the Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses are +flesh and not spirit." He assures the people that the time will come when +names shall be used with greater discrimination--"The vile person shall no +more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful." + +Job says: "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild +ass's colt." And it is Job who has given us the common expression, "I am +escaped with the skin of my teeth." + +David says of the hypocrite:--"The words of his mouth were smoother than +butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, but they +were drawn swords." "Man that is in honor and understandeth not, is like +the beasts which perish." "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no +God." Of the wicked the psalmist exclaims: "Their poison is like the +poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; +which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so +wisely." Recalling an incident of Israel's journey through the wilderness, +he gives his opinion of the transaction Aaron tried to disclaim: "They +made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed +their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass!" "Fools, +because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are +afflicted." He says of those who gave him pain,--the "ploughers who +ploughed upon his back and made long their furrows,"--"They shall be as +the grass upon the house-tops which withereth before it groweth up; +wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his +bosom." + +Paul speaks of those "whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their +shame;" and also of certain ones who "speak lies in hypocrisy, having +their conscience seared with a red-hot iron." "Rulers," he says, "are not +a terror to good works, but to evil." "If a man thinketh himself to be +something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." + +The Book of James has already been quoted in this chapter; but there is +another passage of the proverbial or epigrammatic character that must not +be omitted: "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your +own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is +like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth +himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man +he was." The Veman proverb is very like this: "Whatever he devoid of +understanding may be reading, his virtue continues only so long as he is +reading; even as a frog is dignified only so long as it is seated on a +lotus leaf." + +One of the best examples of the kind of wit we are now discussing is found +in the account of King Asa's sickness and death. The writer of the Book of +Chronicles says: "Yet in his disease he sought not unto the Lord, but to +the Physicians;" and then adds with imperturbable gravity, "And Asa slept +with his fathers." Referring to this passage, Professor Matthews +says:--"It looks like a sarcasm on the medical practitioners of +Palestine." There is something similar to this in Ecclesiastes: "Wisdom is +good--with an inheritance," an ancient instance of "the old flag--and an +appropriation." + + +III.--THE SAYINGS OF JESUS. + +To this chapter belong many of the sayings of Jesus. He spoke in proverbs +as well as in parables. + +"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a +rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." + +"Many are called, but few are chosen." + +"The first shall be last, and the last first." + +"A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and among his +friends." + +"He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; he that exalteth himself shall +be abased." + +"Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves." + +"Physician, heal thyself." + +"Ye are the light of the world; a city that is set on an hill can not be +hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a +candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house." + +"Let the dead bury their dead." + +"No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the +kingdom of God." + +"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but +considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" There are several +proverbs in other literatures very like this. The Russian:--"A pig came up +to a horse and said, Your feet are crooked, and your hair is worth +nothing." The Bengal:--"The sieve said to the needle, You have a hole in +your tail." The Chinese:--"Let every one sweep the snow before his own +door, and not busy himself with the frost on his neighbor's tiles." + +"Ye can not serve God and Mammon." + +"A house divided against itself can not stand." + +"Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but +inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know, them by their fruits. Do +men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" + +"For unto every one that hath to him shall be given and he shall have +abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which +he hath." + +"Wheresoever the carcass is, there are the vultures gathered together." + +"Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls +before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn again and rend +you." Similar proverbs may be gathered from other sources. The Persian +says, "It is folly to give comfits to a cow;" the Veman, "Though you +anoint an ass all over with perfumes, it feels not your fondness, but +will turn again and kick you;" the Telugu asks, "What can a pig do with a +rose-bottle?" the Tamul says, "Like reading a portion of the Veda to a cow +about to gore you;" and again, "Though religious instruction be whispered +into the ear of an ass, nothing will come of it but the accustomed +braying." + +"They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Such +sayings of Jesus are true proverbs and instances of genuine wit. + +Archbishop Trench says, "Any one who by after investigation, has sought to +discover how much our rustic hearers carry away even from sermons to which +they have attentively listened, will find it is hardly ever the course or +tenor of the argument, supposing the discourse to have contained such; but +if anything is uttered, as it used so often to be by the best Puritan +preachers, tersely, pointedly and epigrammatically, this will have stayed +by them while all the rest has passed away. Great preachers to the people, +such as have ever found their way to the universal heart of their +fellows, have ever been great employers of proverbs." This principle helps +to explain why, in the case of Jesus, "the common people heard him +gladly." + + + + +VI. REPARTEE. + + +"He that can define, he that can answer a question so as to admit of no +further answer, is the best man. Jesus spent his life conversing with +humble people on life and duty, in giving wise answers, showing that he +saw at a larger angle of vision, and at least silencing those who were not +generous enough to accept his thoughts."--_Emerson._ + + + + +REPARTEE. + + "And no one was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from + that day forth ask him any more questions."--_Matthew._ + + +The present chapter brings us to the subject of Repartee. Of this form of +wit, Professor Matthews says, "Nothing is more admirable, nothing more +quickly enlists our sympathies, than this perfect command and quick, +instantaneous concentration of the faculties, when a man is taken at a +disadvantage and has to repel an insinuation or an insult at a moment's +warning. That felicity of instantaneous analysis which we call readiness, +has saved thousands of men from mortification or contempt. The dextrous +leap of thought by which the mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless +dilemma is worth more than all the logic and learning of the world." "The +impromptu reply," says Moliere, "is precisely the touchstone of wit." + +The pages of the Bible are sometimes enlivened by sharp repartees. The men +of old time, the men of the Hebrew nation, understood the power of the +quick and flashing answer, as well as more modern generations. Johnson and +Foote and Sheridan might have found it by no means easy to hold their own +in Judea. It is very likely that their powers would have been put to the +severest test. + + +I. + +Turning to the pages of the old Testament, we find many striking examples. + +Ben-hadad sends word to the king of Israel, threatening to destroy his +army. The king of Israel replies, "Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on +his harness, boast himself as he that putteth it off." + +Amaziah desired war with Jehoash. He sends to him saying, "Come, let us +look one another in the face." Jehoash simply responds to the presumptuous +challenge, "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in +Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And there passed by +a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trod down the thistle." + +Job retorts upon Zophar, after a wearisome recital of dreary commonplaces +intended for comfort, "No doubt but ye are _the_ people, and wisdom will +die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior +to you; yea, who knoweth not such things as these?" To the speech +introduced by these words, Eliphaz sharply replies, "Art thou the first +man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the +secret of God, and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou +that we know not? What understandest thou which is not in us? With us are +both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father." Upon +this latter sentiment Elihu expresses himself when he finds opportunity to +put in a word; "Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged +understand judgment." + +Indeed the Book of Job abounds in sharp speeches and replies as cutting as +the speeches they answer. The sufferer obstinately refuses to accept +their theory of his affliction or to adopt the remedies his friends +propose. "Ye are forgers of lies," he exclaims, "ye are physicians of no +value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace, and it should be your +wisdom." In response to this appeal, Eliphaz becoming piqued proceeds to +administer consolation with the lash: "Shall a wise man utter vain +knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with +unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?" "I have +heard many such things," cries the wretched Job, "miserable comforters are +ye all. If your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words +against you, and shake mine head at you; but I would strengthen you with +my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief." + +There were some word-battles between Sanballat and Nehemiah while the +latter was trying to build the walls of Jerusalem, and the former was +doing his best to hinder the enterprise. "Come," says Sanballat, "let us +meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono,"--let us be +friendly, let us have a pleasant visit together,--"but he thought to do me +mischief." The crafty Sanballat did not take the builder of Jerusalem +napping. Nehemiah replies, "I am doing a great work so that I can not come +down; why should the work cease whilst I leave it to come down to you?" +Are your wishes of such mighty importance, O Sanballat that I should leave +the Lord's work? Must the building cease that I may gratify your whim? Go +to, Sanballat, go to; I can not come down. My work is great and noble; +thou art a trifler and hypocrite! In precisely this vein was Spurgeon's +reply to the pious bore who sent up word, "Tell him a servant of the Lord +wishes to see him." It was Saturday afternoon, and Spurgeon replied, "Tell +him I am busy with his Master!" + +Sanballat will have at him again: "It is reported among the heathen, and +Gashmu said it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause +thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king, according to these +words. And thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, +saying, There is a king in Judah; and now shall it be reported to the king +according to these words. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel +together." To this tissue of falsehoods manufactured by the mendacious +Gashmu, Nehemiah flashes back with indignation, "There are no such things +as thou sayest, but thou feignest it out of thine own heart." Nehemiah +comes very near giving what Touchstone would call the "lie direct," and he +gives it without the qualifying "If." + +Robert Collyer has the following comment upon Gashmu, who was quoted by +Sanballat as authority for the charge that Nehemiah was going to set up +for a king: "This only, this one thing is left: A good man was doing a +good work with all his might, and bad men tried to hinder him. They tried +to hurt his person. Gashmu was above that. He was none of your common +rowdies. Sanballat and Tobiah might do that, but not Gashmu; yet Gashmu +will sit there and nurse his dislike, and be glad to hear the petty +stories that float like thistledown through the neighborhood against the +innocent man; words are twisted and turned to meanings Nehemiah never +thought of, and Gashmu hopes they are true; he wishes they were true; the +wish is father to the thought, and he believes them. * * * So Gashmu has +permitted his prejudices to grow into a lie. Gashmu is to live thousands +of years for one purely false assertion, and to be the representative man +of unprincipled gossips and narrow bigots as long as the world stands." + +Another illustration. When the woman, in time of famine, appealed to the +King of Israel as he passed by, "Help, my lord, O King," he turned upon +her with the somewhat grim rejoinder, "If the Lord do not help thee, +whence shall I help thee?" Her case was hopeless, if the Lord could do +nothing. + +Although the resemblance is not very strong, this incident suggests a +story of Michael Angelo. It calls to mind the way in which he took revenge +upon Biagio di Cesena. This courtier ventured to criticise his Last +Judgment. With a swift stroke he turned the Minos of the fresco into a +likeness of his critic. Biagio complained to the Pope. "Where has he +placed you?" inquired the Pontiff. "In Hell," said Biagio. "I am sorry," +replied the Pope; "If it had been in Purgatory, something might have been +done, but in Hell I have no jurisdiction." + + +II. + +Examples of prompt and keen retort are not confined to the Old Testament. +When we turn to the New Testament, we find additional illustrations. + +When Paul was making his defence before the Council, he said, "Men and +brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." +This declaration of innocence offended the High Priest Ananias, and he +commanded those who stood by, to smite the speaker on the mouth. This +raised the indignation of Paul, and with the swiftness of an arrow he +transfixed the Priest, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall; for +sittest thou to judge me after the law and commandest me to be smitten +contrary to the law?" This was understood as a bolt of invective by those +who heard it, for they asked in alarm, "Revilest thou God's High Priest?" +The answer of Paul was a still more subtle sarcasm: "_I wist not, +brethren, that he was the High Priest_." There was nothing in the conduct +of the man to betoken the dignity of his office. God's High Priest must +surely be fair and impartial. God's High Priest would never counsel +violence. The mistake, Paul would imply, was perfectly natural and +excusable. + +There is a story of John Randolph not unlike this. Indeed, the sarcasm is +the same in spirit and purpose. Paul admitted that "one must not revile +God's High Priest," but _he did not perceive that the High Priest was +present_. The coarse, loud, ill-tempered person who commanded to smite him +on the mouth could not be High Priest! The following was the occasion of +Randolph's sarcasm: During the winter of 1834 a member of the House, to +whom he was much attached, died. His place was taken by a young man, vain +and ambitious, who began his career by making a bitter attack on Mr. +Randolph. No reply was made by the latter. Several days passed, when a +question came up in which he was deeply interested, and he delivered a +very earnest and impressive speech. As he closed, he said, "I should not, +Mr. Speaker, have returned to press this matter with so much earnestness, +had not my views possessed the sanction and concurrence of my late +departed friend, _whose seat, I lament, is now unhappily vacant_." + +How skillfully, in the story of the young man who had been healed of his +blindness, does the subject of the cure parry the thrusts of the synagogue +authorities! "Give God the praise," they exhort, "we know that this man is +a sinner!" "Whether he be a sinner or no," says the young man, "I can not +tell; one thing I know that whereas I was blind, now I see." Thus +repulsed, they begin again. "What did he to thee? How opened he thine +eyes?" He replies, "I have told you already, and ye did not hear; +wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?" Stung to +the quick, they revile him, "Thou art his disciple, but we are Moses' +disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses, but as for this fellow we +know not from whence he is!" Thoroughly aroused, the young man sends home +to them a final thrust: "Why herein is a marvelous thing that ye know not +from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes? Now we know that God +heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshipper of God and doeth his +will, him he heareth. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man +opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not of God, he could +do nothing!" Abuse and excision alone remain to the rulers of the +synagogue. "Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?" +And they cast him out. Excommunication is the sole answer of priest-craft +and bigotry to reason. + + +III. + +To many readers it may seem impious to say that under the head of Repartee +we must classify many of those words of Jesus with which he cuts through +the sophistry of opponents and disentangles himself from the webs that are +woven about him. Let it be remembered, however, that we are dealing with +his utterances simply as literature; with their religious significance, we +are not now concerned. We are discussing the sayings of Jesus as we would +the sayings of Johnson or Goldsmith. + +One of the most striking instances is found in the controversy over +exorcism. When the scribes who came down from Jerusalem charged, "He hath +Beelzebub and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils," he quickly +reduced the accusation to an absurdity: "How can Satan cast out Satan? If +he rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an +end." He goes further--"If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your +children cast them out?" + +There was one occasion, however, when Jesus himself seems to have been +vanquished by a swift rejoinder. When the Syro-Phenician woman came to him +in behalf of her daughter, in order to test her faith he said,--"Let the +children first be filled, for it is not meet to take the children's bread +and to cast it unto the dogs." "Yes, Lord," she answered, "yet the dogs +under the table eat of the children's crumbs." These words came from a +bright intellect as well as from a trusting heart. Jesus appreciated the +keenness of the reply no less than the confidence it expressed. "_For this +saying_ go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter." "For once," +says Macbeth, "Jesus was refuted and that by his own figure; and he wished +to be refuted." + +How we enjoy such a dilemma as the one in which he placed the chief +priests and the scribes and the elders! They asked him, "By what authority +doest thou these things? And who gave thee authority to do these things?" +"I will also ask of you one question," says Jesus, "and answer me, and I +will tell you by what authority I do these things--the baptism of John, +was it from heaven, or of men? answer me." "And they reasoned with +themselves, saying, If we shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then did +ye not believe him? But if we shall say of men,--they feared the people; +for all men counted John that he was a prophet, indeed. And they answered +and said unto Jesus, We can not tell." "And Jesus answered and said unto +them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." + +Another time "came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, +saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders? for +they wash not their hands when they eat bread?" How quick and effective +the reply: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your +tradition?" Nothing could be said in response. The question was absolutely +closed. The disciples violate your tradition? Very good; but what does +your tradition violate? Can we not see his opponents, falling back beaten, +knitting their brows, taking counsel together, planning some overwhelming +defeat for this impudent young heretic? What Thersites said of Ajax would +well apply to them: "He bites his lips with a politic regard, as who +should say, There were wit in this head an' 'twould out; and so there is, +but it lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show +without knocking." + +When the woman poured the spikenard on the head of Jesus, Judas, the +virtuous Judas, forsooth! made objection. "Why was not this ointment sold +for three hundred pence _and given to the poor_?" Why not, indeed,--for +Judas is custodian of the poor fund. "Judas," returns his Master,--and +there was pathos as well as rebuke in the words,--"Judas, the poor ye have +with you always, and whenever ye will, ye may do them good." This was the +first time Judas had ever manifested any solicitude for the poor. "But me, +ye have not always." Judas was silenced; but he began to brood revenge. +Soon he stole out and went to the chief priests. He had not secured the +price of the spikenard, but he would indemnify himself by selling his +Master! + +With what relish do we read the trenchant replies of Jesus to the Scribes +and Pharisees and Herodians who had leagued to "entangle him in his talk." +Easily as Samson broke the green withes, did he break the verbal fetters +they forged. "In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in +marriage!" "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God +the things that are God's." What can be more admirable viewed simply as +repartee,--as illustrations of the "dexterous leap of thought by which the +mind escapes from a seemingly hopeless dilemma?" If one were to read such +fragments of Gospel history for the first time, without the idea that he +must attach a solemn and awful meaning to every word, how would he delight +in these intellectual contests and hail the genius of the victor! + +After the besiegers, in the preceding incident, had exhausted their +fruitless ingenuity, Jesus turns upon them with the question, "What think +ye of Christ? Whose Son is he?" "The Son of David," they feebly mutter. +"How then doth David call him Lord? If David call him Lord, how is he his +son?" That ended the controversy. The combined forces of theology and +politics retired in confusion, evidently looking, as Dickens said of the +portraits of the Dedlock family, "as if they did not know what to make of +it." They had lost the battle. One can imagine the evangelist who +afterwards wrote the account, almost chuckling with inward satisfaction, +as he recalled the scene and recorded the result: "And no man was able to +answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day ask him any more +questions." + + + + +VII. Wit and Logic. + + +"Who would say that truth ought to stand disarmed against falsehood, or +that the enemies of the faith shall be at liberty to frighten the faithful +with hard words or jeer at them with lively sallies of wit, while the +Christians ought never to write except with a coldness of style enough to +set the reader asleep?"--_Augustine._ + + + + +WIT AND LOGIC. + + + "I was not gone far before I heard the sound of trumpets and alarms, + which seemed to proclaim the march of an Enemy; and as I afterwards + found was in reality what I apprehended it. There appeared at a great + distance a very shining light, and in the midst of it a person of most + beautiful aspect; her name was _Truth_. On her right hand, there + marched a male deity, who bore several quivers on his shoulders, and + grasped several arrows in his hand. His name was Wit."--_Addison._ + + +In her essay on Heine, George Eliot writes: "Every one who has had the +opportunity of making the comparison, will remember that the effect +produced on him by some witticisms is closely akin to the effect produced +on him by subtle reasoning which lays open a fallacy or absurdity; and +there are persons whose delight in such reasoning always manifests itself +in laughter. This affinity of wit with ratiocination is the more obvious +in proportion as the species of wit is higher and deals less with words +and with superficialities than with the essential qualities of things. +Some of Dr. Johnson's most admirable witticisms consist in the suggestion +of an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity of an action or +proposition; and it is only their ingenuity, condensation and +instantaneousness which lift them from reasoning into wit." The opinion of +George Eliot has been shared by others. Pitt declared that "all wit is +true reasoning," and Rogers says that "wit is truth." A French writer has +observed that "reason needs to be armed with the terrible epigram." And +even solemn John Milton writes of Plato's dialogues, "There is scarce one +of them, especially wherein some notable sophister lies sweating and +turmoiling under the inevitable and merciless dilemmas of Socrates, but he +that reads, were it Saturn himself, would be robbed of more than a smile." + +There are in literature abundant examples of the condensed logic of +wit,--the logic that exposes a fallacy, answers an objection and +demolishes an argument, without resorting to major and minor premise and +formal conclusion. One or two of these may pave the way to the main +purpose of this chapter. "Where was your Protestant Church before Luther?" +asked a Catholic of Wilkes. "Did you wash your face this morning?" said +Wilkes. "I did, sir." "Where was your face before you washed it?" The +logic of wit as employed by Dr. Johnson, is referred to by George Eliot. +On one occasion it was debated whether a clergyman who had five years +before been guilty of some grave sin should be reinstated. Johnson +inquired whether the man had repented. It was admitted that he had. +"Then," said Johnson, "if he has repented, is he not good enough to go to +heaven?" "Certainly." "Why, sir, then there is no objection. A man who is +good enough to go to heaven is good enough to be a clergyman." Johnson +denounced Lord Bolingbroke in the following immortal analogy: "Sir, he was +a scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against +religion and morality, a coward because he had not resolution enough to +fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw +the trigger after his death." + +A certain clergyman who had been addicted to bawling and roaring in the +pulpit said, "I once thought it was the thunder that killed, and know now +that it is the lightning that does the execution. I mean to thunder less +and lighten more." Sir Thomas Overbury punctures certain pretensions thus: +"The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors, +is like a potato--the only good belonging to him is underground." +Thompson, of the _Westminster Review_, defended the Radicals against the +attacks of the Whigs in this manner: "Noah was a Radical when, hearing the +world was to be drowned, he went about such a commonsense proceeding as +making for himself a ship to swim in. An antediluvian Whig would have laid +together half-a-dozen sticks for an ark and called it a 'virtual +representation.'" + +The principle that underlies these instances is obvious. The form may vary +but in every case there is an analogy that serves all the purposes of +formal logic,--"an analogy which immediately exposes the absurdity of an +action or proposition." The writers of the Bible understood and employed +the same principle. + + +I. + +One of the best examples of its use is found in Nathan's parable. He goes +to David and tells him: "There were two men in our city; the one rich, the +other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; but the poor +man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought and +nourished up; and it grew up together with him and with his children; and +it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, +and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich +man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress +it for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's +lamb and dressed it for the man that was come unto him." Such an action is +so atrocious that it kindles David's wrath. He little suspects the purpose +of the wily prophet. "As the Lord liveth," he cries, "the man that hath +done this thing shall surely die! And he shall restore the lamb four-fold +because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." Beware, David, +beware! This Nestor-prophet, this Nathan of the subtle wit and keen-edged +tongue hath digged a pit for thee and thou hast fallen into it. Swiftly +the prophet smites the bewildered king with the conclusion, "_Thou art the +man!_" Could a volume of reasoning have so impressed David with the +enormity of his crime as this simple "analogy" of Nathan? + +A similar instance is found in the first book of Kings. Ahab the king of +Israel had allowed the Syrian general, Ben-hadad, to escape. One of the +prophets, determined to rebuke him, disguised himself and sat by the +wayside, waiting until the king should pass by. "And as the king passed +by, he cried unto the king and said: Thy servant went out into the midst +of the battle, and behold a man turned aside and brought a man unto me and +said, Keep this man; if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be +for his life or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. And as thy +servant was busy here and there he was gone." Ahab does not suspect the +snare of the prophet. What would my lord, the king, decide? Shall thy +servant pay the forfeit? "And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall +thy judgment be; thyself hath decided it." And he made haste, removed his +disguise, and said to the king: "Thus saith the Lord: _Because thou hast +let go out of thine hand a man whom I had appointed to utter destruction, +therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people_." +Ahab has judged himself. No wonder he was vexed. "And the king of Israel +went to the house heavy and displeased." Nothing so disconcerts one as the +recoil of his own logic. + +Let us place side by side with these illustrations one or two pieces of +the same kind of reasoning from Shakespeare. The Court Fool endeavors to +show Lear his own pitiful lack of wisdom in giving away his kingdom to his +daughters:-- + + "FOOL.--Nuncle, give me an egg, and I'll give thee two crowns. + + "LEAR.--What two crowns shall they be? + + "FOOL.--Why, after I have clove the egg i' the middle and eat up the + meat, the two crowns of the egg. When thou clovest thy crown i' the + middle and gavest away both parts, thou borest thine ass on thy back + o'er the dirt; thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when thou + gavest thy golden one away." + +Upon another occasion the following dialogue occurs:-- + + "FOOL.--Canst thou tell how an oyster makes his shell? + + "LEAR.--No. + + "FOOL.--Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. + + "LEAR.--Why? + + "FOOL.--Why to put his head in; not to give it away to his daughters + and leave his horns without a case." + +Lear is so stung with the sense of his folly by these "analogies" of his +jester that he exclaims in rage and bitterness, "I shall forget my +nature!" It is the argument of Nathan, "Thou art the man." + +Upon the same principle, but in a different way, the Psalmist reasons with +those who "slay the widow and the stranger and murder the fatherless," and +who say, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard +it." Thus he argues: "Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye +fools, when will ye be wise? _He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? +he that formed the eye, shall he not see?_" + +Under this head must we also place the judgment of Solomon, when the two +women came before him, each claiming the living child. "Then said the +king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth and thy son is dead; and +the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead and mine is the living one. +And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the +king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to +one and half to the other. Then spoke the woman whose the living child was +unto the king, for her heart yearned upon her son, and she said, O my +Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it. But the other +said, Let it be neither thine nor mine, but divide it. Then the king +answered and said, Give her (the first) the living child, and in no wise +slay it; she is the mother thereof." Solomon had to use a sharp argument, +but he settled the controversy. + + +II. + +The "suggestion of an analogy that immediately exposes the absurdity of an +action or proposition," was the favorite method of argument with Jesus. + +He spun no metaphysical cobwebs, he used no long chains of linked +propositions; it is no irreverence to say that his quick wit was his main +reliance. In a sentence or two, with a simple, homely figure, he reduced +to an absurdity the conduct he censured and the proposition he opposed. + +On one occasion he was asked, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" +"What man shall there be among you," he answered, "that shall have one +sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold +on it and bring it out? _How much more, then, is a man better than a +sheep?_ Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day." + +At another time the same subject came up. Because Jesus had healed on the +Sabbath day, the ruler of the synagogue was filled with indignation and +made a very grotesque spectacle of himself. He stormed, scolded, and +roared to the people, "There are six days in which men ought to work; in +them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." Jesus +answered: "Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose +his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought +not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, +these eighteen years, _be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day_?" The +indignant ruler had to smother his wrath. "And when he (Jesus) had said +these things, all his adversaries were ashamed." The people enjoyed their +confusion, and evidently applauded the sharp-witted young prophet who had +silenced the fault-finding tongues of the rulers. "All the people rejoiced +for the glorious things that were done by him!" + +The Scribes and Pharisees were once murmuring and complaining that he +mingled with publicans and sinners, and even condescended to eat with +them. "And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a +physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but +sinners to repentance!" + +When the Pharisees and Sadducees desired that he would show them a sign +from heaven, he answered and said unto them, "When it is evening, ye say +that it will be fair weather for the sky is red. And in the morning, It +will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is red and lowering. O, ye +hypocrites, _ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern +the signs of the times?_" He uses essentially the same argument for a +similar request: "When ye see a cloud rise out of the West, straightway ye +say, There cometh a shower, and so it is. And when ye see the South wind +blow, ye say, There will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, +_ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that +ye do not discern this time?_" Says Geike, "With biting irony, he turned +on them in a few brief, incisive sentences. * * * An evil and adulterous +generation seeks after a sign of the approach of the Kingdom of God, while +it is blind to the signs around that the Messiah must come, if the nation +is not to perish." + +In a similar manner he shows how ridiculous are the doubts of those who +fear that God will not answer prayer. "If a son ask bread of any of you +that is a father, will ye give him a stone?" How this must have arrested +the attention of his auditors; how they began to listen, curious to know +what was coming next. "Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a +serpent?" Now they exchange glances as much as to say, "No, no; surely we +would not do that!" But only for a moment. The expectant faces are again +turned upon the Great Teacher. "Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer +him a scorpion?" "No, no!" and now they are eager for the conclusion: "_If +ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask +him?_" It is the climax of absurdity for you to think that you are better +than God, and will do more for your children than the Great Father will do +for his children! + +The disciples of Jesus came to tell him that the Pharisees are offended at +some of his sayings. His only reply is, "Let them alone; they be blind +leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall +into the ditch." + +When he charges the Pharisees with tithing mint, anise, and cummin, while +neglecting judgment, mercy and faith, he stamps their conduct with an +"analogy" that makes them ludicrous forever, "Ye blind guides _which +strain out a gnat and swallow a camel_." + +At dinner, he was rebuked by his host for permitting a penitent woman to +wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head. +"Simon," calmly returned the guest, "I have somewhat to say to thee." +"Master, Say on." Jesus then proceeds to impale him upon the following +question: "There was a certain creditor which had two debtors; the one +owed him five hundred pence, the other fifty. And when they had nothing to +pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will +love him most?" Simon understands whither the question tends, and slowly +and reluctantly comes his answer: "I--suppose--that--he--to--whom--he-- +forgave most." "Thou hast rightly judged." Yes, Simon, but thou hast +condemned thyself and justified the woman. + +The story of the vineyard and its application are similar to Nathan's +parable. "There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard, and +hedged it round about and digged a wine-press in it, and built a tower, +and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the +time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that +they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, +and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other +servants, more than the first; and they did unto them likewise. But last +of all, he sent unto them his Son; saying, They will reverence my Son. But +when the husbandmen saw the Son, they said among themselves, This is the +heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on the inheritance. And they +caught him and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." + +This is the story. Jesus turns to the Pharisees: "When the Lord, +therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto these husbandmen?" +Priests and Pharisees are moved with indignation. This is horrible; it +almost exceeds belief. Those husbandmen were monsters of ingratitude and +wickedness! The Pharisees answer: "He will miserably destroy those wicked +men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall +render him the fruits in their seasons." + +Fatal answer for you, O Scribes and Pharisees! "Therefore I say unto you, +_the Kingdom of God shall be taken from_ YOU, and given to a nation +bringing forth the fruits thereof." There is a touch of humor in Matthew's +description of the manner in which the real object of this story dawned +upon the minds of the hearers. "And when the Pharisees had heard his +parable, _they perceived that he spake of them_." Are we not irresistibly +reminded of Falstaff, when the fairies in the forest turned out to be +flesh and blood, "I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass?" Do we not +feel about many of these condensed arguments of Jesus, as Milton did +about the "sophist sweating and turmoiling under the inevitable and +merciless dilemmas of Socrates," that "he who reads, were it Saturn +himself, would be robbed of more than a smile?" + +Let us add by way of comparison, a passage from the Athenian Master. Here +is a fragment of dialogue upon the enslaving power of money. + +"Come, now, and let us reason with the unjust who is not intentionally in +error. 'Sweet sir,' we will say to him, 'what think you of things esteemed +noble and ignoble? Is not the noble that which subjects the beast to the +man, or rather to the god in man? and the ignoble that which subjects the +man to the beast?' He can hardly avoid saying Yes,--can he now?" + +"Not if he has any regard for my opinion." + +"But if he admit this, we may ask him another question,--How would a man +profit if he received gold and silver on condition that he was to enslave +the noblest part of him to the worst? Who can imagine that a man who sold +his son or daughter into slavery for money, especially if he sold them +into the hands of fierce and evil men, would be the gainer, however large +might be the sum which he received? And will any one say that he is not a +miserable caitiff who sells his own divine being to that which is most +atheistical and detestable, and has no pity?" + +This selection will enable us to see that the method commonly used by +Socrates was essentially the method that Jesus so frequently employed. + + +III. + +When we pass on to other portions of the New Testament, we find examples +of the same kind of reasoning in James and Paul. + +Most admirably does James show the futility of faith without works. "What +shall it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not +works? Can faith save him? If a brother and sister be naked and destitute +of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed +and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are +needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not +works, is dead, being alone." + +The class of people referred to by James are aptly described by Fielding +in the character of Peter Pounce. "Sir," said Adams, "my definition of +charity is a generous disposition to relieve the distressed." "There is +something in that definition," answered Peter, "which I like well enough; +it is, as you say, a disposition to do it, and does not so much consist in +the act as in the disposition to do it. But, alas! Mr. Adams, who are +meant by the distressed? Believe me, the distresses of mankind are mostly +imaginary, and it would be rather folly than goodness to relieve them." +"Sure, sir," replied Adams, "hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and +other distresses which attend the poor, can never be said to be imaginary +evils." "How can any man complain of hunger," said Peter, "in a country +where such excellent salads are to be gathered in almost every field? or +of thirst, where every river and stream produce such delicious potations? +And as for cold and nakedness, they are evils introduced by luxury and +custom. A man naturally wants clothes no more than a horse or any other +animal; and there are whole nations who go without them." Peter Pounce +would have said to the "brother or sister naked and destitute of daily +food," "_Depart in peace; be ye warmed and filled._" + +The declaration of James that "faith without works is dead," is +illustrated in the sayings of others also: + + "Sweet words, empty hands."--_Telugu._ + + "Kindness, but no milk."--_Urdu._ + + "Though they are brothers, their pockets are not sisters."--_Turk._ + + "It is not by saying Honey, Honey, that sweetness comes into the + mouth."--_Ib._ + + "His words leap over forts, his feet do not cross the + threshold."--_Telugu._ + + "If you do not ask me for food and raiment, I will care for you as my + own child."--_Ib._ + +Equally admirable is that comparison of Paul in which he likens the Church +to the human body and shows the folly of jealousy and schism: "If the foot +shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it +therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the +hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" + +Very pleasantly, but very effectually, does he remind those who professed +to "speak with tongues" a sort of supernatural language, in the early +Christian assemblies, that it was "better to speak five words with the +understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." An +illustration serves his purpose. "Even things without life, giving sound, +whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in sound, how shall +it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain +sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? So likewise ye, except ye +utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known +what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air." + +Paul maintains the right of those who establish and teach churches, to be +supported by those churches. It was a right upon which he did not always +insist in his own case; but he fought for it as a great principle. "Mine +answer to them that do examine me is this: Have we not the power (the +right) to eat and drink?" The objector would admit this. Very well! "Who +goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard and +eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of +the milk of the flock? * * * If we have sown unto you in spiritual things, +is it a great thing if we shall reap of your carnal things? * * * Do ye +not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of +the temple? They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? +Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should +live of the gospel." There is no gainsaying this argument. The "analogy" +is unanswerable. + +Already once or twice in this chapter, reference has been made to Socrates +and his method. Much of the following passage would apply equally well to +Jesus or James or Paul: "He generally begins with some question, +apparently so simple, so stupidly simple, and at such a distance from the +field of discussion, that his opponent often hesitates whether most to +admire the docility or wonder at the stupidity of the querist, and with a +complacent smile, half of pity, half of contempt, promptly replies. Other +questions succeed faster and faster, more and more difficult, and +gradually approaching, in one long spiral of interrogations, the central +position in which the unhappy sophist's argument stands. He now finds it +impossible to escape, and confounded, perplexed and irritated, discovers +that he is compelled to admit some palpable contradiction to his original +assertions, and this too by means of those simple and innocent premises +which he had so unsuspectingly granted. He feels himself within the coils +of a great logical boa-constrictor who binds his folds together tighter +and tighter till the poor sophist is absolutely strangled." + + + + +VIII. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + +"Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth +in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates; in the city +she uttereth her words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love +simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate +knowledge? Turn you at my reproof!"--_Solomon._ + + + + +THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + "The oldest jibe in literature is the ridicule of false + religion."--_Emerson._ + + "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall hold them + in derision."--_Psalms._ + + +In the Bible, the elements of wit and humor are effectively employed in +dealing with the sins of men. Evil doing, in its various motives and +manifestations, is denounced, rendered repulsive, made ghastly and +terrible, and when everything else has been done, it is exhibited as +grotesque and ludicrous. Sin is the great absurdity of the universe. Were +it not so tragic, it would shake the very heavens with laughter. + +One of the old English poets has these lines:-- + + "He who does not tremble at the sword, + Who quails not with his head upon the block, + Turn but a jest against him, loses heart; + The shafts of wit slip thro' the stoutest mail. + There is no man alive that can live down + The inextinguishable laughter of mankind." + +With this fact the writers of the Bible were quite as well acquainted as +are the writers of modern times. They took advantage of it for the same +purpose. + +"Of this we may be sure," says Hazlitt, "that ridicule fastens on the +vulnerable points of a cause, and finds out the weak sides of an argument; +if those who resort to it sometimes rely too much on its success, those +who are chiefly annoyed by it almost always are so with reason, and can +not be too much upon their guard against deserving it." + +Into hearts impervious to all else, the writers of the Bible drove the +javelins of ridicule. + + +_The Sluggard._ + + +If anything could make a lazy man feel uncomfortable, it would be such +thorns as those Solomon has planted in his pillow:-- + + "I went by the field of the slothful, + And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; + And lo! it was all grown over with thorns, + The face thereof was covered with nettles, + And the stone wall thereof was broken down. + Then I beheld and considered well, + I saw and received instruction: + 'A little sleep, a little slumber, + A little folding of the hands to sleep.' + So shall thy poverty come as a robber, + And thy want as an armed man. + + * * * * * + + How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard, + When wilt thou rouse thee out of thy sleep?" + + +_The Unfaithful Friend._ + +If anything could make an unfaithful and deceitful friend, one who +professes much in times of prosperity and performs nothing in times of +need, ashamed of himself, it would be such a comparison as we find in the +book of Job:-- + + "My brethren are deceitful, like the brook + As the channel of brooks that pass away, + They become turbid from ice, + The snow hides itself in them. + At the time they are poured off, they fail; + When it is hot they are consumed from their place. + The caravans along their way turn aside; + They go up into the wastes and perish. + The caravans of Tema looked, + The companies of Sheba hoped for them; + They were ashamed that they had trusted, + They came thither and were confounded." + +The friends of Job were like streams in the early spring, when melting ice +and snow filled their channels, and the waters were not needed; but in +the heat of summer, when fainting caravans looked for refreshment, dry and +dusty. + + +_The Drunkard._ + +If anything could move a drunkard to forswear his cups and lead a sober +life, it would be such a sarcastic description of him as that which +follows:-- + + "Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? + Who hath complaining? Who hath wounds without cause? + Who hath redness of eyes? + They that tarry long at the wine, + They that go to try mixed wine. + + * * * * * + + Thine eyes shall behold strange things, + And thy heart shall utter froward things, + Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, + Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast." + +The poem closes with a terrible thrust. After the folly of the drunkard +has been described, his physical and mental condition pointed out--the red +eyes, the strange things seen in delirium, the incoherent babbling, the +unsteady gait, the surrounding perils,--the devotee of strong drink is +made to exclaim, "_When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again!_" Knowing +its effects, suffering in mind and body from his potations, such is the +incorrigible stupidity of the wine-bibber that he no sooner wakens from +his drunken slumber than he goes forth to seek again the source of his +wretchedness! + + +_The Idolater._ + +Nowhere is the use of ridicule by the writers of the Old Testament +displayed to better advantage than in their treatment of idolatry. Against +this sin they brought to bear the most potent weapons of their wit. None +of the resources of expression were left untried. Witness the withering +irony with which Elijah mocked the frantic priests of Baal: "And it came +to pass that at noon Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a +god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or +peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked." No finer bit of irony can +be found in any literature. Indeed, we may regard it as the most perfect +specimen extant of this species of wit. + +Jeremiah exclaims, "As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the +house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their +priests, and their prophets, _saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and +to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth_." + +The Psalmist thus speaks of the gods of the heathen: + + "They have mouths, but they speak not; + Eyes have they, but they see not; + Noses have they, but they smell not; + They have hands, but they handle not; + Feet have they, but they walk not; + Neither speak they thro' their throat." + +Having thus described the senselessness and impotence of the gods of the +heathen, he adds: + + "They that make them are like unto them, + So is everyone that trusteth in them." + +In a similar vein Jeremiah ridicules the idols: "For the customs of the +people are vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the +hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with +gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. They +are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, +because they can not go. _Be not afraid of them; for they can not do evil, +neither also is it in them to do good._ * * * The stock is a doctrine of +vanities." + +Isaiah satirizes the idolaters in this fashion: "They shall be turned +back, they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images, they that +say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind +that ye may see. Who is blind but my servant? or deaf as my messenger that +I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect (in his own estimation), and +blind as is the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest +not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. * * * Who among you will give +ear to this and hearken and hear for time to come?" + +Ezekiel declares that, on account of their idolatries, the people have +become as worthless as a withered vine. Nothing useful can be made out of +it. It is only fit for the fire. "What is the vine tree more than any +tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood +be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any +vessel thereon? Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire +devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet +for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work; how much +less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, +and it is burned? Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree +among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so +will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem." + +There is an elaborate piece of sarcasm in the forty-fourth chapter of +Isaiah: "He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak +which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest; he +planteth an ash and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man +to burn; for he will take thereof and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it +and baketh bread." The tree which this idolater takes has grown up as any +other tree, and after it is cut down, it is devoted to the same ordinary +uses. Yet out of that very tree, "he maketh a god and worshippeth it; he +maketh a graven image, and falleth down thereto." + +The prophet repeats and amplifies, "He burneth part thereof in the fire; +with part thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast and is satisfied; +yea, he warmeth himself and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire; +and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth +down unto it and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it and saith, Deliver +me, for thou art my God." + +Then he concludes: "And none considereth in his heart, neither is there +knowledge nor understanding to say, _I have burned part of it in the fire; +yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh +and eaten it; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I +fall down to the stock of a tree?_" The idolater does not see, does not +"consider" what an abject simpleton he is to make a god out of the same +material with which he bakes bread and roasts meat. It is as if the +prophet should say, "What sort of a god is that, O Israel, with which you +do your broiling and baking?" + +Robert South comments on this passage: "With one part he furnishes his +chimney, with the other his chapel. A strange thing that the fire must +consume this part and burn incense to that! As if there were more divinity +in one end of the stick than in the other; or as if it could be painted +and graven omnipotent, or the nails and hammer could give it an +apotheosis." + +The fatalistic excuse which the people make for their idolatries and other +sins, is thus disposed of by Jeremiah: "Behold ye trust in lying words +that can not profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear +falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye +know not; and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my +name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this +house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?" + + +_Refuges of Lies._ + +Isaiah charges the rulers of the people with forsaking the word of the +Lord, and substituting for his truth false maxims and iniquitous precepts. +They refuse to obey the divine commands, and lead their subjects also into +rebellion. They have adopted other rules of life than those delivered by +the prophets of Jehovah,--other national policy than that promulgated from +above. In their overweening pride and self-confidence, they look with +disdain upon the requirements of God. Isaiah represents them as saying, +"We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; +when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto +us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid +ourselves." But the prophet warns them that their fancied security shall +be broken up. "Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to +the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the +waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death +shall be disannuled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When +the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down +by it." He pauses a moment, after this strain of invective, and then +sarcastically describes the insufficiency of their refuges by another +figure, ludicrous enough, that of a man trying to stretch himself upon too +short a bed, and to cover himself with too narrow a blanket. "For the bed +is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering +narrower than that he can wrap himself in it." + + +_False Prophets._ + +Ezekiel tells us that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Son of +Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say unto +them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord. +Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their +own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy prophets are like the +foxes in the desert. * * * They have seen vanity and lying divination, +saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them." These prophets +were endeavoring to soothe the people, to cover up their sins, to +dissipate their fears of retribution. "They have seduced my people, +saying, peace, when there is no peace." Then Ezekiel describes their work. +They are like foolish masons who build a wall with mortar that will not +hold the stones together,--"untempered mortar!" Can such work last? Can +such a structure stand? "Say unto them which daub it with untempered +mortar that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O +great hail-stones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo! when +the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing +wherewith ye have daubed it?" Did ye not boast of your mortar? Did ye not +promise the people that it would hold? Alas for you, O prophets! Alas for +your work! "The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the +prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see +visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord." + +Most contemptuously does Isaiah speak of the false prophets: "The Lord +will cut off from Israel, head and tail, branch and root, in one day. The +ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, +_he is the tail_." + + +_The King of Assyria._ + +Isaiah ridicules the high and mighty pretensions of the King of Assyria. +That monarch boasts of his achievements. He takes the credit of all to +himself. He wears the glory alone. "By the strength of my own hand, I have +done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent; and I have removed the bounds +of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the +inhabitants like a valiant man." Falstaff could not proclaim his own +prowess, in more bombastic style. "I am a rogue, if I were not at +half-sword with a dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by +miracle: I am eight times thrust through the doublet; four through the +hose; my buckler cut through and through; my sword hacked like a handsaw. +I never dealt better since I was a man." Now let the Assyrian resume his +parable: "And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and +as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and +there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." +Falstaff will match him again: "There is not a dangerous action can peep +out his head, but I am thrust upon it. Well, I can not last for ever; but +it was always yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good +thing, to make it too common. * * * I would to God my name were not so +terrible to the enemy as it is!" + +The prophet, after allowing the Assyrian to sound his brazen trumpet, +turns upon him, and sarcastically reminds him that he is simply a tool, a +rod, a staff, in the hands of the Lord, and that he has of himself +accomplished nothing: "_Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth +therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?_ +as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if +the staff should lift itself up as if it were no wood!" + + +_The King of Babylon._ + +One of the most powerful passages of invective in any literature is that +in which Isaiah pictures the fall of the King of Babylon. + +He begins--"How hath the oppressor ceased!" Then he sets forth the joy of +the earth itself over the discomfiture of him who "smote the people in +wrath with a continual stroke." All creation is glad. "The whole earth is +at rest and is quiet; they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir-trees +rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid +down, no feller is come up against us." This is the state of things on +earth. + +There is commotion in the lower world, there is mockery of the humiliated +monarch as he descends among the shades. "Hell from beneath is moved for +thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even +all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all +the kings of the nations." + +The shadowy, ghostly company gather about the fallen potentate and taunt +him: "Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy +pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols; the worm is +spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from +heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground +which did weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will +ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will +be like the Most High! Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the +sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and +consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, +that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and +destroyed the cities thereof?" + +Then the prophet concludes: "All the kings of the nations, even all of +them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of +thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are +slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, +as a carcass trodden under feet!" + +It is truthfully remarked that "keen thrusts and tingling ironies will +rouse the slumbering, startle the stolid, shame the profligate, and set +the thoughtless to thinking. While it is true that ridicule is not the +test of truth, it is equally certain that it is only by ridicule that many +dull-witted and sin-steeped persons can be made to see and feel the truth. +It would be well for mankind in general, if all could be made to feel that +wickedness is as contemptible as it is hateful. There is a stupidity in +sin, a thick, rhinoceros skin of insensibility, which only the +feather-winged arrows of wit can pierce. Iniquity has a pachydermatous +hide, and can feel only when coals of fiery ridicule are laid upon its +back, and blown by the breath of laughter." + + + + +IX. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + +"If our Savior himself never laughed, it is difficult to believe that the +bystanders did not laugh, or at least smile, when he tore the mask from +the hypocritical pharisees who laid heavy burdens on men's shoulders which +they themselves would not move with their fingers, and devoured widows' +houses, even while for a pretence they made long prayers."--_Matthews._ + + + + +THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + "Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith."--_Paul._ + + +The writers of the Old Testament who used the glittering lances of wit +against the foes of truth and righteousness, had worthy successors in +evangelists and apostles, and in Jesus himself. These men were indignant +at hypocrisy and wrong-doing; they looked with scorn upon the swelling +pretensions of the religious leaders; they expostulated with affectionate +earnestness and severity with their own brethren who suffered themselves +to be led astray. Indignation is not necessarily wrong or unchristian. The +faculty of indignation is an essential part of human nature, and when +aroused against evil its operations are beneficent. It in no wise +diminishes the reverence we feel for Jesus, that he made a scourge of +cords and lashed the traders and money-changers from the temple! + +Ruskin says, "There is no black horse in the chariot of the soul. One of +the driver's worst faults is starving his horses; another is not breaking +them early enough; but they are all good. Take, for example, one usually +thought of as wholly evil--that of anger, leading to vengeance. I believe +it to be quite one of the crowning wickednesses of this age, that we have +starved and chilled our faculty of indignation, and neither desire nor +dare to punish crimes justly." + +This faculty of righteous wrath when it takes shape in irony, ridicule, +sarcasm, invective, is the mightiest foe of vanity, hypocrisy, pretension, +corruption, and vice. By its sword do they perish. The teachers and +writers of New Testament times, did not disdain to use in their work every +instrument of power known to the human mind. From their own stand-point, +at least, they had many false notions and customs to combat; they had the +ignorant, prejudiced, officious and fault-finding to deal with; they were +harrassed by narrow and persistent opponents; they had to do battle at +every step. They might have exclaimed with a modern writer, "Let us be +thankful that we have in wit a power before which the pride of wealth, and +the insolence of office are abased; which can transfix bigotry and tyranny +with arrows of lightning; which can strike its object over thousands of +miles of space, across thousands of years of time; and which through its +sway over an universal weakness of man, is an everlasting instrument to +make the bad tremble and the foolish wince." + + +_The Choice of the Jews._ + +There is an excellent piece of quiet sarcasm in John's account of the +trial of Jesus. He first gives us Pilate's conclusion in these words: "And +when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith: I find +no fault in him at all; but ye have a custom that I release unto you one +at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the +Jews?" Pilate is willing; he pronounces Jesus innocent; but the crowd +clamor and refuse. "Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but +Barabbas." John closes the account with an inoffensive looking sentence, +but one so full of bitter satire, that we can not help thinking of the +time when he wished to call down fire from heaven. Jesus is an innocent +man--so pronounced by the governor--but the Jews cry out for his blood. +They want Barabbas released. And who is Barabbas? Who is this popular +idol? Who is the man that the people prefer to Jesus the upright and +spotless? With a rapier-like thrust, John pierces the heart of that +iniquitous choice, "_Now Barabbas was a robber_." It is a stroke worthy +the "Son of thunder." + + +_The Weakness of Pilate._ + +But think not, O Pilate, that thou shalt escape. The same hand that cast +the first javelin, will also send one to pierce thy heart. In the next +chapter, John tells us how, up to a certain point, Pilate sought to +release Jesus. He was convinced of his innocence, and did not wish him put +to death. But there is a weak spot in Pilate's nature, and John points it +out with infallible precision. Pilate is not the man to stand for the +right at personal sacrifice. When his own interests are at stake, he will +permit injustice and cruel wrong to others. Why does he deliver Jesus to +the cross? John is determined that all the world shall know. "The Jews +cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; +whosoever maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar." My lord Pilate +is not proof against this insinuation. He can not face the possibility of +losing his office. "_When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought +Jesus forth._ * * * Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be +crucified." John has stamped Pilate as a weak, vacillating and selfish +ruler; and his portrait, marked with these features, has been transmitted +to all ages. + + +_Paul and his Detractors._ + +Perhaps none of the great characters of New Testament times were so beset +by foes of all kinds as was Paul. He has himself assured us that he was +often in perils from his own countrymen, and in perils from false +brethren. He was denounced by priests and scribes, and opposed by upstarts +in the very churches he had founded. In replying to arguments and meeting +objections he sometimes showed his mastery of more than one form of +wit,--although the form he most frequently used was irony. + +By many his preaching was characterized as "foolishness." There was +nothing in it to commend it to the Jews who "required a sign," or to the +Greeks, "who sought after wisdom." "Very well," is his reply, "foolish it +may be, but after all it has accomplished more than either Jew or Greek +has been able to do for the world. 'Where is the wise? Where is the +scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the +wisdom of this world?' What has it achieved? Where are its monuments? 'For +after that the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the +foolishness of (just such) preaching (as mine) to save them that believe.' +This foolishness has lifted men from vile and sinful lives into +righteousness and honor. Have your own way about it, O Greeks and Jews; I +will be accounted a fool if you will, and am willing to let my words be +stigmatized as folly; but you will find that 'God hath chosen the foolish +things of the world to confound the wise; God hath chosen the weak things +of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and base things of +the world, and things that are despised hath God chosen; yea, and things +that are not, to bring to nought things that are.' I accept the low +estimate you put upon me and my work, but I triumph over you and your +work, however exalted. Results shall determine. This is glorious folly!" + +In writing to the Corinthians, he says of certain members of the church +who thought that in spiritual things they were superior to himself, "Now +some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to +you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, _not the speech of them +which are puffed up, but the power_." + +To those thus puffed up, he addresses himself in the following ironical +strain: "Now ye are full, now ye are rich; ye have reigned as kings +without us; and I would that ye did reign, that we also might reign with +you. For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last. * * * We are +fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye +are strong; ye are honorable, but we are despised." + +He denounces certain teachers who were sowing the seeds of discord among +his churches, as "false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming +themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is +transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his +ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end +shall be according to their works." Such teachers as these pronounced Paul +a fool and did everything to bring his work into contempt. "Very good," +says Paul to the Corinthians, "receive me then as a fool," and then +proceeding, with his favorite irony, "For ye suffer fools gladly, _seeing +ye yourselves are wise_!" + +How scathing is his rebuke to those who misrepresented his doctrine: "We +be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, Let us do evil +that good may come!--whose condemnation is just." This is his only answer +to evil tongues. + +It is conceded by the best authorities that Paul did not write the Epistle +to the Hebrews, but there is a passage in that letter not unlike him,--the +rebuke to those who ought to be strong, manly and intelligent Christians, +but who have not yet gotten out of their swaddling clothes: "For when for +the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again +which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such +as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk +is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is but a babe. But +_strong meat belongeth to those that are of full age_, even those who by +reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." + +Similar to this is Paul's treatment of the Corinthians when they were +divided in their allegiance, some claiming to belong to one teacher and +some to another. First Paul himself had been there and taught among them +in that broad and liberal spirit which always characterized him. He made +very little of forms and ceremonies, and very much of charity and +brotherhood. Then came Peter who was always more narrow than Paul, but +very intense. Paul was a broad river, Peter a mountain torrent. Peter +never completely freed himself from the bondage of the Jewish system, and +he insisted upon some of the things that Paul discarded. Soon a party was +formed. Some thought, no doubt, that Paul was too far away from the Jewish +creed, that he was not strict enough, that it was perhaps safer to take +Peter as a guide; so while some said, "I am of Paul," others said, "I am +of Cephas." Then came Apollos who is described as being "very eloquent." +When he stood up to speak, many said, "He beats both Paul and Peter; I am +of Apollos." So there were "envyings and strifes and divisions." Paul +ridicules the Corinthians for these childish quarrels, and says that he +must still speak to them as to "babes." "I have fed you with milk and not +with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, _neither yet now are +ye able_!" + + +_Examples from other Apostles._ + +The epistle of James that has furnished illustrations for some of the +preceding chapters, shall yield one for this, in its notice of a grave +abuse that existed in the early churches, and that has not entirely died +out of modern churches. + +"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of +glory, in respect of persons. For if there come into your assembly, a man +with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in +vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, +and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place (Take this high-priced and +fashionable pew, where you can listen to the gospel in luxurious ease, and +at the same time dazzle the eyes of those in neighboring pews with the +latest fashions), but say to the poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under +my foot-stool (or go up in the gallery), are ye not then partial in +yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" + +Peter silences certain ones who complained of persecution, by saying, "If +ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye (that is nothing to +complain of), but let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or +as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body in other men's matters (if any one of +you suffers in such a character, he deserves the lash)." In either case, +there is nothing to justify your outcry. + +He also denounces certain ones who have forsaken the right way and gone +astray as "wells without water, clouds without rain that are carried of a +tempest." They "speak great swelling words of vanity, promising liberty +while they are themselves the slaves of corruption." And then he fastens +the reproach of their apostasy upon them with what Falstaff would call a +"most unsavory simile,"--"It is happened to them according to the true +proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was +washed to her wallowing in the mire." Such are those who turn back to +error from the paths of truth. + +In much the same strain does Jude write to the same class: "These are +spots in your feasts of charity; clouds without water, carried about of +the winds; trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked +up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; +wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever!" + +John wrote to the Laodiceans: "I know thy works that thou art neither cold +nor hot; so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I +will spew thee out of my mouth. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with +goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched +and miserable and poor and blind and naked!" + +The Laodiceans needed the familiar prayer of Burns: + + "O wad some power the giftie gie us, + To see oursel's as ithers see us; + It would frae mony a blunder free us, + And foolish notion!" + +They needed a look into the glass of Lao, which revealed the blemishes of +the soul, how fair soever the exterior. + + +_Christ's Use of Invective._ + +Even more severe than his apostles in his use of denunciation, was the +Great Master himself. In his controversies with the recognized religious +leaders of his day, he heaped coals of fire upon their claims and +teachings and practices. + +"Ye leave the commandment of God and hold fast to the tradition of men," +he says to the Scribes and Pharisees; and then adds, with terrible irony, +"Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your +tradition." Surely, when the commandments of God were placed side by side +with rabbinical glosses, they were in an extremely cruel position! + +No passage of invective, in any literature, is more crushing than this: +"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the +kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither +suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, +and when he is made, ye make him two-fold more the child of hell than +yourselves. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye +devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye +shall receive the greater damnation. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and +platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Blind +Pharisees! cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that +the outside of them may be clean also! Woe unto you, Scribes and +Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers which, +indeed, appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones +and all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, +but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. * * * Woe unto you, +Scribes and Pharisees, for ye are as graves which appear not, and men walk +over them and are not aware of them." + +But not only the leaders, but the people also, fall under his lash. "The +men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and shall +condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and behold a +greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the South shall rise up in the +judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; for she came from the +uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a +greater than Solomon is here! When the unclean spirit is gone out of a +man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he +saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he is +come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh +with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in +and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. +Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation!" + +Upon another occasion, he upbraided the cities in which he had wrought and +preached. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee Bethsaida; for if the +mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in +you, they had a great while ago repented sitting in sackcloth and ashes. +But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for +you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust +down to hell!" + +Does it seem strange that such language should have come from the lips of +Jesus? Should we not rather have expected it from the stern Baptist, his +forerunner, who denounced the "brood of vipers" that came to his baptism? +Is it inconsistent with that spirit of love which we believe to have been +the distinguishing characteristic of Christ? But love is not mere +invertebral amiability or moon-faced complacency. By as much as love is +strong and true, by so much does it seek, at any cost and by any means, to +remove the faults and follies of its object. If the lash be needed, the +lash it will take. "He who has never experienced the affectionate +bitterness of love," says F. W. Robertson, "who has never known how +_earnest_ irony and passionate sarcasm may be the very language of love in +its deepest, saddest moods is utterly incapable of even judging this +passion!" + + * * * * * + +Here the writer's task ends. The subject may be capable of much more +elaborate treatment; it would be claiming too much to suppose that these +chapters exhaust it. The writer trusts, however, that he may have +suggested a line of study to others, as it was first suggested to him. The +poetry, the dramatic portions, the oratory of the Scriptures, are +unsurpassed. Viewed simply as a literary work, the Bible is the most +interesting in the whole realm of letters. It becomes increasingly +interesting, as its great human elements are recognized. Over history, +biography, and most serious discourse, play the soft gleams of healthful +humor and the lightning-like bolts of sarcasm and wit. The book touches +human nature at all points. The more we view it as "literature," the less +as "dogma," the firmer will become its hold upon the heart of man. + +That these fragmentary studies may help some one to appreciate his Bible +better and enjoy it more, is the writer's wish. He may also express, in +closing, the hope that whoever has taken the trouble to read these pages +may have found them free from that which he disclaimed at the +outset--irreverence; as he believes them to be free from the other +extreme, superstition. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Wit and Humor of the Bible, by Marion D. Shutter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WIT AND HUMOR OF THE BIBLE *** + +***** This file should be named 39546.txt or 39546.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/5/4/39546/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project and from images generously +made available by The Internet Archive.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/39546.zip b/39546.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1df8bf6 --- /dev/null +++ b/39546.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c90747 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #39546 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39546) |
