terature is worthy of the most careful study on the
part of all Christians who recognize and who are willing to meet their
obligations to their day and generation. The prophets of old met in
the strength of God, and at the divine impulse, the problems and evils
of their own age. They had to face the problems of materialism and
commercialism; the evils resulting from the accumulation of wealth,
power, and resources in the hands of a few; very serious economic
problems; cruelty, oppression, arrogance on the part of the rich
proprietors; corruption in government and in the administration of
justice; they had to grapple with a cold, heartless formalism that
threatened to destroy pure, spiritual religion. Against these evils
and wrongs the prophets of old raised their hands and voices. "When
the old tribal customs and bonds were weakened by the growth of cities
and the cultivation of commerce they saw that {254} society must be set
upon a moral basis or suffer destruction. When the nation itself was
about to be broken to pieces they saw in this a call for a deeper
spiritual life.... They were interested in politics, but not as a
profession in which to show their skill, or out of which they might
gain wealth or glory. Politics for them meant simply the life of the
nation in its relation to God and to the great outside world. They
were social reformers. To the earlier prophets man was regarded always
as a member of society rather than as an independent individual.... In
opposition to a showy ritual, they set up their demands for justice
between man and man."[22] Surely, it is a part of the Christian's duty
to do his share toward a Christian solution of the social and religious
problems of our day. We can hardly claim to have reached the full
stature of Christian manhood or womanhood until we have acquired the
knowledge and power to cope with these difficulties in the spirit of
the Master and with the methods best adapted to the Christianizing of
modern society. In these our efforts to lift humanity nearer to God,
or to bring God nearer to humanity, we may learn much from the prophets
of old.

To sum up the results of our study: As Christians we may find our
loftiest inspiration in the study of the life, the character, and the
teachings {255} of the Master, and of the words of his disciples. But
the New Testament is little more than a quarter of the Bible. In the
preceding pages the attempt has been made to empha