Part 8

"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?"