the servant and not the master
of men.

I can think of nothing more dreary than the study of human life and
history apart from the interpretations put upon them by Jesus. Then one
generation seems to follow another, and the long procession, even though
the character of those composing it steadily improves, always ends at
the same goal,--the grave. Millions live and die like the beasts that
perish. They aspire, struggle, and are determined to rise, but just when
they are fitted to endure, and to enter upon ampler spheres of service,
the curtain falls on the tragedy, the stage scenery is changed, a new
company of players takes their places, and the farce, for it is a farce
as well as a tragedy, goes on from century to century, and there is no
meaning in anything. If that were the true interpretation of life, on
earth's loftiest mountain there might well be raised a temple in honor
of death; and around it all the races of men be invited to join in the
chorus, "Happy is the next one who dies!"

But a better interpretation of human life's mystery has been given.
Jesus looked over its apparent desolation and confusion and poured upon
it divine light. He taught that it is not the Father's will that even
one should perish. Men are not being ground in an infinite mill, but
they are being refined and purified by the only processes which will
develop in them both strength and beauty. Out of confusion harmony will
come, and out of the battle of the elements peace will dawn at last.

To those who know that pain and sorrow are ministers of strength and
sympathy, that by them narrow horizons are widened and deserts made to
blossom, human life does not seem so confused and terrible as it has
sometimes been pictured. Jesus makes evident the upward movement of the
race, and shows, let me repeat, that it is "under the eye and in the
strength of God." He was made perfect through suffering. The thorns on
His brow tell their own pathetic story. The passion vine above His head,
and beneath His feet, indicate that even His sufferings are not without
a purpose of blessing, and therefore are fully justified.

And now we approach the saddest of all the dark experiences through
which the soul passes,--the mystery of sin. Of its enormity I have
already spoken; but what about its origin, its uses, and its
continuance? The question of its origin Jesus does not even mention. It
is not recognized as having any uses. It may be made an occasion of
g