Fatherhood in the Old Testament.-This message of God's Fatherhood is Jesus' first great advance over all that went before. It is true that Jehovah is sometimes called Father in the Old Testament, but we see the difference when we look more closely. In the Old Testament God is first of all a King. True, this King is fatherly toward his people; he pities those that fear him as a father pities his children; but his real character is that of king. The real faith of a people comes to expression in its hymns and prayers. Where is there a Christian that does not say "Father" when he prays? But in the psalms, the Old Testament prayer book, you look in vain for a single passage where the worshiper calls upon Jehovah as Father. (Psalm 103. 13; 68. 5; 89. 27, 28 are only apparent exceptions.) There is one other notable fact: with perhaps one exception, when Jehovah is spoken of as Father in the Old Testament, it is in relation to the people as a whole or to their representative, the king. The common man did not think of God as his own Father.

The God of Mercy.-What does this Fatherhood mean? First of all it means undeserved mercy. The religion of the law is the religion that earns: men get just what they deserve. So Judaism thought; God was a lawgiver and an even-handed judge. There was a double danger under such teaching: that the "sinner" should give up everything in despair, and that the "saint" should become proud and self-righteous. For all this there is no room with Jesus. God is not a taskmaster paying wages: he is the Father whose mercy goes out to all his children. It is what GOD is that determines his gifts to men, not what men are. And not all the evil of men can change God's love. That is the message of Matthew 5. 43-48. Jesus had noted the hard ways of men, which they called justice. That is not God's way, he said. Look out upon this world. His sun shines upon the evil and the good; his gracious rain falls upon the just and the unjust.

But it is the parable of the eleventh-hour laborers that gives the death-blow to this Jewish idea of a bargain religion and a God who is merely a paymaster (Matthew 20.

1-16). A certain landowner sends his steward into the market place of the village to hire laborers, and the agreement is that each shall receive a denarius, or about seventeen cents. During the day he hires still other men, some, indeed, only an hour before the day's close. The master himself pays off the men. He begins with those last hired, who, to their surprise, receive their denarius, though they have worked but an hour. But when the master comes to those who have worked all day, he gives them the same. To their protest he answers: "Cannot I do what I will with my own? Are you to be angry because I am good, because I choose to give to these men more than they have earned ?”

This parable is an argument, and it seeks to prove one point: God deals with men on the principle of mercy, not of hard justice. With this parable Jesus swept away the whole religion of law and labor, of earning and getting. God is not that kind of a God. With this word Jesus gave a new hope to the hopeless, and drew sinners and outcasts to himself. The old theologians used to say that God must always be just, that he might when he would be merciful; but they were not true in this to the teaching of Jesus. God is Father, and mercy is the law of fatherhood. God will always be merciful, as he will ever be just.

An Individual Love. This is one side of Fatherhood, an unbounded and undeserved love for all men. The other side is this: God loves men individually. His Fatherhood is not a general good will. It is not his love for mankind as a whole, or for some race, or for his church. He cares for each single man, as the shepherd does for the single sheep that may be astray. The humblest child is precious in his sight; woe to him who makes one such child to stumble! God has his loving purpose for every human life. There is not one thing that concerns a man that God is not interested in; the hairs of your head are numbered (Matthew 10. 29-31). But if God be such a God, loving each man, then religion is man answering that love with like love. It is man entering into fellowship with the Father as a true son, loving him, talking with him, making God's will the great concern of his life. And so religion

becomes a personal relation. "This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God."

Three Great Truths.-Here, then, are three great truths that flow from Jesus' teaching about the Father. (1) Individualism: God knows the single man, and cares for him. (2) Universalism: if God cares for each man, then he cares for all men. He is not limited to one nation, whether Jew or Anglo-Saxon, nor to certain elect. (3) Religion becomes a personal relation: the rule of God is to be carried out in family and industry and state, but the heart of it all is man's fellowship with God. Confessing the creed, performing the rite, belonging to the nation or the church, none of these can take the place of this personal relation of the child with the Father.

THE FATHER IS KING

Love Upon the Throne.-The Father is King; that is the second phrase in which to sum up Jesus' teaching about God. It is not enough for men to believe in the love of God. Does this love sit upon the world's throne, or is there another power that men must fear? That was the weakness in men's faith in Jesus' day, as it is in ours; men feared and loved other things besides God. Back of Jesus' joyous message about the Father was the abiding assurance of his Father's power. It is easy to say, as we do each Sunday, "I believe in God the Father Almighty;" but do we really believe that the Power Almighty is a Father, and that our Father is Almighty Power? So Jesus believed. There was evil in the world, but God would surely carry out his purpose for each individual and for his world. So Jesus rejoiced not merely in God's love but in his power. He says: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth."

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The Fear of God. If the Father is really King, then we must fear him. In his own strong word Jesus puts the truth: "I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body. But I will warn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power

to cast into hell" (Luke 12. 4, 5; compare Matthew 10. 28). This is not, of course, fear in the ordinary human sense. It has, rather, the meaning of reverence and awe. It belongs not simply to the sinner, but to the saint who utterly trusts and loves. It was in Jesus' own soul. It is awakened as much by the thought of God's infinite and holy love as by the thought of his power. To such reverence and awe Jesus summoned men. They were to pray, "Hallowed be thy name." They were not to swear at all. The trifling Sadducees with their frivolous question he rebukes with the word: "Ye know not . . . the power of God."

The Source of Strength and Peace. Such reverential fear is the foundation of strong character. The reason is plain. (1) The fear of God and obedience to his will give men purpose in life and power. Life gains unity. Lesser aims and petty interests lose their influence. Man is strong because he has a great and commanding end. (2) The fear of God delivers a man from all other fears. Fear and trust belong together, as Jesus showed. He begins by saying, "Fear him"; he ends with the words, "Fear not" (Matthew 10. 28, 31). It is the fear of God that delivers us from all other fears. The great reason why men are so anxious and worried is because they have not had the real vision of God's power.

Superstition and Worry.-Worry was not simply a failing in the eyes of Jesus; it was a sin. The heart of worry is an unwillingness to trust God or to leave our lives to his will. The root of worry is paganism, an unbelief in God, perhaps more often a belief that God rules but part of the world, while the rest belongs to chance or powers of evil. Closely allied to this are the lingering superstitions that may be found even in our day. What is the meaning of the little superstitions about lucky pennies, the number thirteen, knocking on wood, and picking up pins for good luck? Is it not the feeling that at least a part of this world is not under the rule of God and his ordered action, but of some "chance" or power of evil? How widespread this is, even among educated people, was shown some years ago

by a writer who declared that in response to personal queries nearly three fourths of the teaching force of Harvard University confessed that "they had little habits and customs indicating that, whether consciously or subconsciously, they were under superstition's influence." Of nearly nine hundred students examined in the University of California, one hundred and thirty-eight believed wholly or partly in the Friday superstition, and one hundred and thirty in the idea of misfortune associated with the number thirteen. A simple thoroughgoing faith in a power that is good and that rules absolutely all life is the highest gift that can come to a man, a gift that brings quiet of mind and strength and joy.

THE HOLINESS OF GOD

Holiness in Jesus' Day. We have spoken of the love of God and the power of God, but thus far have not considered the holiness of God. It is significant that there is only one passage in which Jesus is reported as using the adjective "holy" with God (John 17. 11). Now, Jesus believed as strongly in the holiness of God as did those about him; but the reason that he and the early church used it so little seems to be that the word had acquired a meaning which they did not accept. It had come to mean something formal and ritual both for men and God. Holiness meant separation from defilement. In men it meant mainly a scrupulous observance of the many rules of ceremonial cleanness. One of the great requirements was to keep away from all "sinners," the contact with whom would defile. In a similar way, the holiness of God meant his separation from sinful men.

Love-Jesus' Ideal of Holiness.-It was a new and greater ideal of holiness that Jesus brought. It was the holiness of love, so wonderful, so pure, so boundless, as to transcend all that men had ever conceived. He himself exhibited that holiness in his life. It was not a holiness that separated from men, but one that drew near. Jesus prefers to use the name "love" for this rather than "holi